Applied Industrial and Organizational (I/O) Psychology lies at the crossroads of psychology and business. It's where theory meets practice and where science can tip the balance in the marketplace. Industrial and Organizational Psychology professionals apply principles of both business and psychology to bolster workplace morale, improve individual and group performance, and enhance organizational success.
Our online-blended I/O master’s program equips graduates with broad-based expertise in the most current theories and practices in I/O psychology—as well as specialized training in specific focus areas that are of interest to them, such as consumer motivation, workplace diversity, organizational effectiveness, and more.
Courses are based on:
- An instructional environment which accepts students as mature learners and allows them to bring their experience and expertise into the classroom
- Readings and materials which expose students to new theories, concepts, and best practices relevant to their careers
- Classmates who provide a broader range of workplace experiences and diverse perspectives on workplace situations and challenges
- An experienced faculty member who is a personal mentor-guide-facilitator-resource for students
EIO 510 Organizational Behavior
This course explores organizations at the individual level, examining the relationship between employees and managers, and employees and teams. It examines the factors that drive productivity and success in organizations including motivation, diversity, work stress, conflict and negotiation, decision making, personality and attitudes. (3 credits)
EIO 511 Organizational Culture & Design
This course explores organizations at the organizational level, examining the relationship between culture and organization design, structure and environment. It examines the impact of change in strategy and technology, environmental turbulence and organizational maturity, and reviews organization development as a means to advance the changing nature of organization. Supporting topics include corporate ethics, life cycle and control, organizational climate and globalization. Students create an organizational change strategy for a company in turmoil. (3 credits)
EIO 555 Organizational Team Dynamics
This course explores organizations at the team level, examining the relationship between employees and teams and organizations and teams. Students practice assessing and facilitating team processes to maximize productivity and results for members and stakeholders. It addresses how to get things done when teams lack leadership or authority. Supporting topics include how to build teams, how to manage meetings, how to build relationships beyond the team, and how to keep teams effective over their life span. The course uses real time teams, both virtual and face-to-face (3 credits).
EIO 523 Employee Selection
This course provides students with the requirements for creating a legally defensible selection system. It addresses job analysis, fair employment practices, selection validation and behavioral interviewing processes. Students practice analyzing a job and creating measures for the selection process. They use the right tools and processes to reduce turnover and to ensure stronger employee retention. They evaluate and revise their organization’s selection process based on theory and best practices (3 credits).
EIO 525 Management and Leadership
Management and leadership is the heart of organizational life. This course examines how managers and leaders create results by empowering culture and organizational commitment. It leads with the premise that there is no ideal leadership style and that an effective style depends upon realistic assessment of the organizational life cycle, culture and market environment. Students apply management and leadership theory to their own work environment, evaluating how specific situations can be effectively addressed (3 credits).
EIO 522 Performance Management
This course builds the skills of measuring and improving business performance at the individual and team level. It focuses on developing a culture of performance and rewarding that performance. Supporting topics include legal issues of performance appraisal, multi-source methods of appraisal and models for multi-year performance management. Students analyze their organization’s performance system and revise it based on theory and best practices (3 credits).
EIO 512 Organizational Consulting Skills
IO professionals consult everyday in multiple ways, whether the role is internal or external and no matter what the service or field of specialization. Consulting is defined as advancing the goals of an individual, group of organization (the client), using approaches that create lasting, win-win relationships. This course develops skill in building profitable client relationships, including establishing new business, writing winning proposals and expanding one’s referral base. Through case studies and actual projects, students work with clients in real time. Legal, ethical and financial issues are addressed. (3 credits).
Consumer Psychology Specialization/Certificate
ECP 701 Consumer Motivation
Consumers today are bombarded by fast-paced, technologically savvy inducements to make spontaneous purchases across media. Making sense of how potential buyers sort through the stimulus overload will help you design point of sale displays, improve visual merchandising, maintain the integrity of your brand image, and attract and retain customers over time. Individually tailored project work will center on the participant’s work challenges. Learning outcomes include:
- Understanding the basic motivations underlying consumer purchasing behavior;
- Identifying how consumers perceive and respond to product variety and assortment, as well as how individuals vary in their responses to these choices;
- Applying techniques and methods for measuring customer satisfaction, or the degree to which consumers are satisfied or delighted
- Leveraging how customer goals and identities motivate their buying experiences and preferences
- Using this information as advertisers, marketers, buyers, merchandisers, and store mangers to create increase customer retention and the frequency of unplanned purchases.
ECP 702 Reaching the Target Market: Qualitative Research Methods
Reaching your target market and building market share requires identifying the characteristics of the people in that group as well as what they look for in products or services that will make them loyal customers. Techniques for collecting and analyzing data covered in this course include:
- an overview of qualitative research techniques;
- designing, conducting, and managing in-depth interviews; focus groups (on-site, telephone, web) and on-line bulletin boards
- ethnographic research;
- hybrid models that combine interviews and focus groups;
- preventing, avoiding, and dealing with products associated with qualitative research.
- how to report research findings.
ECP 703 Understanding Customer Perceptions: Quantitative Research Methods
Focusing on your target market, improving customer satisfaction, and building your brand image means keeping your pulse on the public perception of your products and services. Surveys are a key component of a customer awareness strategy. Learning objectives in this course include:
- when to use survey research;
- designing, conducting, and managing quantitative (survey) research;
- how to ask survey questions that the get the information you need;
- how to conduct mail, web, and telephone surveys;
- how to manage, analyze, and interpret survey data;
- how to choose the right types of analysis;
- the impact of sampling techniques and sample size;
- how to report survey findings.
Workplace Diversity Specialization/Certificate
EWD 711 Meeting the Challenges of Global Human Resource Management
Managing human resources on a global basis requires an understanding of global staffing issues, including international assignment, compensation/benefits practices and requirements across borders, and culturally influenced differences in ethical practices. This course is intended as an overview of these issues, with the focus selected by the participant using an individualized project. Learning outcomes of this course include:
- Managing the challenge of balancing conflicting values across cultures;
- Designing value-added expatriate programs;
- Identifying important considerations in international staffing
EWD 712 Beyond Compliance: Building Ethical Organizations
Leaders drive performance in line with their personal values in ways that have far-reaching implications and consequences. The savvy global leader understands the impact of her or his own personal value system on the organization, and uses that understanding to make the organization a responsible corporate citizen that is a valued partner in the global marketplace. This course guides the leader though making assumptions about visible, understanding their impact on corporate culture and performance, and translating them into a living Code of Ethics that guides the citizenship behavior of the organization through ethical dilemmas. Learning objectives in this course include:
- addressing three key assumptions leaders make when setting the moral compass for their organizations:
- Stating and embracing a corporate value system that is based on fundamental definitions of right and wrong that are somehow universal;
- A decision making strategy based on these definitions can by applied across cultures;
- A published Code of Ethics will ensure that employees will operate with integrity or face sanctions.
EWD 713 Promoting Diversity
Organizational mission, vision, and values statements frequently include language that indicates “diversity” as a guiding principle or deeply held ideal. Those organizations that truly want to put these words into meaningful action may find it difficult to articulate what they mean and how to accomplish them. This course addresses the idea of embracing and adopting diversity. Learning objectives include:
- defining diversity in practical, meaningful, and useful terms
- developing strategies for increasing diversity in leadership ranks
- exploring implicit bias in contemporary leadership competency models and working to reduce it;
- building a business case for purposefully increasing diversity in the workforce.
Organizational Effectiveness through Human Resources Management Specialization/Certificate
EOE 721 Competitive Compensation and Benefits Systems
Your company’s compensation and benefits systems communicate and reinforce the values of your organization. Participants in this course learn how to create a strategic compensation policy that helps you attract and retain top talent. Learning outcomes include:
- Structuring a compensation policy;
- Understand and use different job evaluation methods;
- Understand the value of compensation surveys and how to use them;
- Create market-competitive salary ranges;
- Design internally fair salary structures.
EOE 722 Development and Deployment of Employee Surveys
Employee opinions surveys are powerful management tools that can help you strategically enhance productivity, market share, customer satisfaction, and profitability. Participants will learn how to create effective surveys using appreciative inquiry and action planning to measure and implement organizational performance improvement initiatives. Learning outcomes include:
- Creating effective surveys using appreciative inquiry;
- Developing sustainable organizational survey initiatives;
- Using surveys to enhance organizational performance;
- Leveraging survey data to increase organizational effectiveness.
EOE 723 Production Labor Relations
This course focuses on understanding the role of collective bargaining in building strong, effective organizations. Participants will become familiar with applicable legislation, responsibilities around negotiations and contract adherence, managing multiple bargaining units, and partnering with bargaining unit representatives to make corporate initiatives successful. Learning outcomes include:
- Partnering with bargaining unit leaders;
- Managing the grievance procedure;
- Navigating fair employment and other important labor laws
Leadership for Healthcare Preofessionals Specialization/Certificate
EHP 731 Legal Issues in Healthcare Leadership
Health care administrators must be conversant with the legal framework of the health care industry as well as the ethical issues confronted in various health care settings. This knowledge is essential if you are to run your operation in an ethical and professional manner. Learning outcomes include:
- becoming patient centered;
- effectively administering licensure and medical malpractice/liability, insurance issues;
- legal and ethical standards for care and informed consent;
- protecting medical record confidentiality, patient rights and patient advocacy.
EHP 732 Strategic Planning in Healthcare Diversity
The course provides an overview of the development of the current status of the health care system in the United States, its organizational structure, and operation of the various health care organizations. Reflecting on the issues faced by major health care delivery systems such as clinics, hospitals, long-term care facilities, health care cooperatives as well as relevant managed care providers, this course takes a long term look at the strategic planning necessary for the operation of healthcare services in a competitive market. Learning outcomes include:
- Defining the market position and operational role of your organization within the larger health care system.
- Creating a three to five year strategic plan;
- Taking a pro-active role in planning longer term solutions to current challenges.
EHP 733 Quality Management in Healthcare Organization
This course will provide basic quality management philosophy and strategies to effect positive organizational change. Healthcare leaders are challenged to have the knowledge and skills to assess, evaluate and design clinical processes, challenge existing methods, rapidly implement new ideas, direct organizational change and plan for future innovations in a changing healthcare environment. Learning outcomes include:
- Designing, organizing and analyzing information related to quality improvement
- Appling problem-solving skills to analyze problems and issues related to quality
- Designing appropriate organizational structures and teams to implement quality solution
Course Descriptions for ExCEL Applied Research Project Courses
EIO 601 Writing and Research for Practice: Professional Proposals
Covers basic skills needed for writing at the graduate level, including critical thinking and attention to cross-cultural and multiple perspectives, grammar and writing mechanics, and style and report format appropriate for the workplace. Familiarizes students with essential resources needed for continuing development of these skills. Includes an overview of the Applied Research Project and the Project’s relationship to the learning outcomes of the program. Covers the process and procedures for creating a personal electronic portfolio. Required e-portfolio submission: A Proposal for an Applied Research Project which includes the problem statement, background, goal, and an annotated bibliography of 3 to 4 articles related to the Proposal topic. Approval by the Student’s advisor is required.
EIO 602 Writing and Research for Practice: Information Literacy
In addition to a review of electronic and other resources available to graduate students at The Chicago School, including traditional scholarly resources, this course prepares student to create an effective research strategy to find and evaluate needed information. Students learn to formulate research queries, perform advanced searches using a range of search engines and critically evaluate information for a particular application. Reference information to avoid plagiarism is included. Required e portfolio submission: A revised Applied Research Project if warranted and the Literature Review Section of the Project with a complete Reference List. Approval by the Student’s Advisor is required.
EIO 603 Writing and Research for Practice: Professional Ethics
An overview of individual as well as organizational responsibilities with regard to ethical issues and requirements related to research and professional behavior. Students will think critically about ethical situations and compliance regulations in their workplace. The research ethics requirements of The Chicago School are included. Required e-portfolio submission: A revised Applied Research Project if warranted, the Critical Analysis of Ethical Considerations section of the Project, and IRB approval if needed. Approval by the Student’s Advisor is required. .
EIO 604 Writing and Research for Practice: Overview of Applied Research Methodologies
An introduction to practical research methods used in workplace settings including qualitative and quantitative research methods, including action research. It covers the interpretation and presentation of fundamental statistical data used in workplace research. Students will learn to select an appropriate design for a particular research question. Familiarizes students with resources for continuing development of these skills. Student e-portfolio outcome: A revised Proposal, if warranted, the Project Methodology section of the Applied Research Project, and a detailed plan to execute and complete the Applied Research Project. Approval by the Student’s Advisor is required.
EIO 605 Writing and Research for Practice: The Applied Research Project
Students will complete an Applied Research Project related to their workplace in which they formulate, investigate, and analyze a problem and develop solutions to address the problem. The Project will include a section presenting an overview of the problem, a review of related literature and other organizational information, a critical analysis of the ethical considerations, a research methodology appropriate for the problem and organizational context, and a critical analysis of the problem and recommendation for its resolution. Required e-portfolio submission: A report documenting the Applied Research Project in a style appropriate for the workplace, and a Power Point presentation of the Project Approval by the Student’s Advisor is required.
If you long to make a difference in the world now is the time. Seize this opportunity to advance your passion by applying online-blended or calling us today at (866) 907-4209. With an advanced degree from The Chicago School of Psychology, you'll be equipped to achieve your higher calling!
