Work Psychology and Business - MSc

If you’re looking to build on your psychology qualifications and gain a competitive advantage when pursuing graduate roles, then our MSc Work Psychology and Business is the ideal platform to launch your career.

This fascinating course focuses on applying psychological principles to the workplace. You’ll learn how to get the best from people in a commercial environment, develop a range of practical skills and gain the academic basis for professional accreditation from the British Psychological Society (BPS).

The course concludes with a Business Project; a substantial piece of work designed to provide you with an opportunity to analyse a business problem and practically apply the knowledge and skills developed during the course.

You can choose to study this course as part of our double degree programme.

Why choose us?

Our MSc Work Psychology and Business is a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited postgraduate course in occupational psychology. After you’ve completed the course, you’ll have the academic basis for the BPS Chartered Occupational Psychology qualification (QOccPsych). There’s also the opportunity for you to complete the BPS Occupational Test User (OTU) certification*. This will enable you to qualify to administer a wide range of psychometric tests, which is a highly desirable qualification for employers.

*Subject to additional testing fees. 

What sets this course apart from other universities is our academic pedigree in applied psychology coupled with our close links to the business community. We’re considered the go-to experts when it comes to applying psychology to overcome business issues. It’s this unique practical insight that our students find so valuable.

Our reputation for student satisfaction, teaching quality and research is well known. We’ve received a Gold Award, the highest possible accolade, from the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). TEF stated that our students achieved ‘consistently outstanding outcomes’, with very high proportions of students going into highly skilled employment or further study.

Recent graduates have been successful in securing sought-after roles with prestigious, international companies, such as Jaguar Land Rover, Reed Recruitment and BAE systems. Whatever role you want to pursue, we can help you get your foot on the career ladder.

Our courses offer a range of opportunities to gain practical experience through things such as, consultancy projects and entrepreneurial opportunities. Find out more here. 

Professional accreditation

MSc Work Psychology & Business is a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited postgraduate course in occupational psychology. Successful completion of the course leads to the academic basis for the BPS Chartered Occupational Psychology qualification (QOccPsych).

More information can be found on the BPS Division of Occupational Psychology website.

Course outline

This programme will take your psychological skills and understanding to the next level. You’ll learn advanced psychology concepts and develop your understanding of how these can be applied to various business issues, such as the assessment of individuals in the workplace, organisational behaviour as well as strategy and leadership. This will prepare you for a variety of roles, in areas including assessment, selection, recruitment, learning and development, occupational health and wellbeing and other areas of workplace psychology.

You’ll develop an understanding of what makes a healthy, happy and effective organisation. We use a very practical approach to enhance your learning experience. For example, you’ll look at research studies about human behaviour in the workplace, as well as case studies linking employee well-being and the efficiency of organisations. This will give you the ability and confidence to practically apply psychological concepts to a business environment.

We also focus on developing a range of specific practical skills throughout the course. You’ll appreciate how to apply these to different organisational settings, such as the public or private sectors. We’ll teach you effective training and development tools, various approaches to change management as well as negotiating techniques, which are key to dealing with difficult workplace situations. These practical skills will significantly enhance your employability and better equip you for a variety of graduate roles. 

You’ll benefit from learning from one of the best known and most successful academic groups in applied psychology in Europe. The School is recognised as being at the forefront of research into this field. It also boasts experienced practitioners who’ve worked for businesses across the world.

They use a mix of innovative and inspiring teaching methods to enable you to get the most from the course and all sessions are delivered in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.

This course is designed for students with an undergraduate degree in psychology recognised by the BPS with graduate basis for registrations (GBR). If you didn’t specialise in psychology at undergraduate level or your psychology degree doesn’t give you GBR status, then please consider our MSc in Business Psychology. 

Subject guide and modules

Core modules

• Organisational Behaviour
• Learning & Talent Development
• Workplace Design and Health
• Research Methods in Human Resource Management and Business and Organisational Behaviour
• Assessment Performance and Reward
• Strategy, Change and Leadership
• Careers and Counselling
• Ethics in Academic Practice
• The Aston Global Advantage
• Business Project or Dissertation 

Optional modules - choose from one of the following:

• Accounting for Non-Financial Managers
• Organisational Behaviour: Theory and Practice
• Strategic Business Sustainability
• Strategic and International Human Resource Management
• Marketing Management
• Operations Management
• Strategic Management
• Management of Innovation
• Economic Environment of Business

Visit the Work Psychology and Business - MSc page on the Aston University website for more details!