MSc Business Psychology

Course module details >>

For students without a BPS accredited degree, MSc Business Psychology offers you the opportunity to study alongside the students of MSc Organisational Psychology and gain a fascinating look at the science of how people and groups behave at work.

A deeper understanding of organisational psychology is an asset to anyone currently working in the field of social sciences or human resource management, or thinking of studying to become an occupational psychologist.

This course gives people with an appropriate background the theoretical knowledge and practical skills used in organisational psychology to help them develop or change careers.

You learn about Psychological Assessment at Work, Learning, Training and Development, Leadership, Engagement and Motivation, Well-Being and Work, Work Design, Organisational Change and Development, Research Design, Advanced Data Gathering and Analytical Techniques and Applying Psychology to Work and Organisations.

You study with students on the MSc Organisational Psychology course, which will enhance your experience, but you do not need to register with the British Psychological Society (BPS).

Students taking the MSc Business Psychology course will sit with students from MSc Organisational Psychology and study the same course modules.

  Read Sheena Davidson's article discussing older workers in the workplace.

Listen to Dr Mark Batey talk about the Level A and Level B qualifications:

• What are the Level A and B professional qualifications? (mp3 file)
• Why take the Level A and B professional qualifications? (mp3 file)
• Levels A and B - the details (mp3 file)

Semester 1

• Selection and Assessment in Organisations
• Research Methods 1
• Test User: Occupational - Ability and Personality (Level A and B)
• Training, Support and Development

Semester 2

• Work Design, Performance and Well-Being
• Managing People and Organisations
• Research Methods 2
• Relationships at Work

Note: The training required to reach Test User: Occupational - Ability and Personality (Level A and Level B)  is also included in the course tuition fees.

Summer period

• Apply what you have learned in the taught part of the course
• Normally consists of a literature review followed by a piece of work based on qualitative or quantitative research.

Examples of recent dissertation topics:

• Customers pay our wages: a diary study examining how to optimise customer interaction and employee wellbeing in the service sector
• Client verbal aggression: an examination of emotional labour and associated outcomes for employees in the legal sector
• Effects of job stressors, organisational commitment and individual attributes on Malaysian Chinese primary school teachers' burnout
• Corporate psychopathy: the truth behind the hype
• Improving safety using a combination of transformational and transactional leadership: a longitudinal study
• Creativity in the workplace: a self-report measure and unanticipated costs
• Leader effectiveness and leader-member relations: the role of interpersonal emotion regulation, follower attributions and leader empathy

On the part-time two-year route you will study the units as follows:

Year one - Semester 1

• Research Methods 1
• Selection and Assessment in Organisations

Year two - Semester 1

• Test User: Occupational - Ability and Personality (Level A and B)
• Training, Support and Development

Year one - Semester 2

• Managing People and Organisations
• Work Design, Performance and Well-Being

Year two - Semester 2

• Relationships at Work
• Research Methods 2

Assessment across the course units varies, and includes a combination of examinations, report, course work, practical assessment and presentations. A dissertation of around 15,000 words is normally undertaken.

Read what current MSc Organisational Psychology student Hannah Lister says about the course so far >>

Our last Postgraduate Open Day was held on 25 November 2015, and details of the next event will be posted as soon as the date is confirmed, and is likely to be held in November again.  The date will be published over the summer so please keep checking this page.

For an idea of what the Open Day includes, see the  open day programme  from the last event.

Events round the world

We take part in events both at home and around the world, and we'd be delighted to meet you in your country . If you are visiting Manchester, you are also welcome to organise a personal visit .

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service. Email: dass@manchester.ac.uk