Syllabus
Registration via LPIS
| Day | Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 11/23/26 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | D5.1.003 |
| Monday | 11/30/26 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | D5.1.003 |
| Monday | 12/07/26 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | Online-Einheit |
| Monday | 12/14/26 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | D5.1.004 |
| Monday | 12/21/26 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | D5.0.001 |
| Monday | 01/11/27 | 01:00 PM - 04:00 PM | D5.1.004 |
| Friday | 01/15/27 | 09:00 AM - 03:00 PM | D5.1.004 |
Organizations are complex social systems. Their success depends not only on strategy, technology, or organizational structures, but fundamentally on human behavior. Many of the most pressing challenges faced by organizations and societies today, such as the adoption of new technologies, the integration of diverse teams, employee well-being, sustainable transformation, misinformation, or collective action, are rooted in psychological processes that shape how people think, feel, and interact.
This course introduces students to the psychological mechanisms underlying human behavior in organizations and society. Drawing on social, cognitive and organizational psychology, students will examine why people resist beneficial innovations, struggle to cooperate, ignore evidence, experience burnout, or find it difficult to balance autonomy and coordination in collective settings.
The course is organized around major tensions faced by contemporary organizations and societies, such as Innovation vs. Resistance, Diversity vs. Cohesion, Performance vs. Well-being, and Autonomy vs. Coordination. Students will learn to critically evaluate psychological theories and empirical evidence and to develop evidence-based interventions that promote desirable outcomes for individuals, organizations, and society.
Applications include AI adoption, hybrid and interdisciplinary work, diversity and inclusion, employee well-being, sustainability, democratic participation, and collective action.
Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:
Explain how psychological processes shape behavior in organizations and society.
Analyze major organizational and societal challenges using theories from social, cognitive and organizational psychology.
Understand how attitudes, motivation, social norms, identity, and situational factors influence individual and collective outcomes.
Critically evaluate psychological interventions and organizational practices using empirical evidence.
Design evidence-based interventions aimed at improving organizational and societal outcomes while anticipating unintended consequences.
Reflect on tensions between competing goals such as innovation and resistance, autonomy and coordination, or performance and well-being.
For this lecture participation is obligatory. Students are allowed to miss a maximum of 20%
The course employs a variety of learning methods including:
Lectures
Introduction of theories, empirical findings, and methodological approaches from behavioral science.
Class Discussions
Discussion of contemporary organizational and societal challenges and critical reflection on competing explanations and interventions.
Case Studies
Analysis of real-world examples such as AI implementation, interdisciplinary teams, misinformation, sustainability initiatives, employee well-being programs, and collective action.
Intervention Design Exercises
Students develop evidence-based interventions addressing one of the psychological challenges discussed in class.
Individual Assignment (50%)
Select a contemporary organizational or societal challenge and critically analyze it using psychological theories and empirical evidence.
Group Assignment (50%)
Develop an evidence-based intervention addressing one of the psychological challenges discussed in class.
Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.
Back