1

The Role of Psychology in Management Education

Richard KlimoskiDean, School of ManagementGeorge Mason UniversitySeptember 9th, 2007

2

My background:

• BA, MA, PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology; minor in business from Purdue.

• Ohio State Psych; Consulting practice to Companies.

• George Mason Psych; Consulting practice to Companies.

• George Mason, School of Management Dean

Professor of Management and Psychology• Active in APA, APS, SIOP, AoM, SOB

3

The Educational Context

• My University-George Mason University (GMU)• The School of Management (SOM) at GMU• The Programs at SOM• Undergraduate major• Undergraduate minor• Graduate/professional (MBA,TechMAN,

EMBA)• Executive Education (work shops, short

courses, certificate courses)• The Curriculum at SOM

4

When it comes to exposure to Psychology, what is required-

When it comes to learning from Psychology, what is desired-

5

Why have Psychology in the Business Curriculum?

It Can Promote: • Self awareness.• Understanding the basis of behavior of people

(as workers, subordinates, clients, customers).• Understanding the bases of decisions affecting

work organization.• Understanding the bases of decisions affecting

the relationships among organizations.

6

What constitutes useful knowledge for the business student?

The Individual as the Focus:

• Models of individual judgment and decision making• Models of impression formation and impression

management• Models of (emotional) self regulation• Models of (social) learning and (workplace) adjustment• Models of individual performance• Models of social influence• Models of interpersonal conflict

7

What constitutes useful knowledge (cont.)?

The collective as the focus:

• Models of group or team processes• Models of emerging influence• Models of group and team performance• Models of socialization/social learning• Models of social-categorization and social identity• Models of leadership• Models of intra and inter-group conflict• Models of nested systems (multilevel models)

8

What are some challenges of teaching psychology in business schools?

• Finding opportunities for exposure in a crowded curriculum

• Overcoming (naïve) resistance (of students/faculty)• Staff availability and qualifications• Moving from “awareness” to skill acquisition to

performance (and the important role of practice with feedback)

• Assessment and the assurance of learning and performance

• Translating methods of research to methods (skills) in critical thinking, inductive and deductive reasoning.

• Translating a Psych preference for empirical evidence into a habit of “evidence based management”.

9

What are some institutional barriers of teaching psychology in business schools?• Social science faculty hired in business schools must

adjust to a “demand” vs. “supply” perspective.• Psychologists are often seen as “outsiders” by sub-

groups of business school faculty.• Business curriculum requirements for content coverage

often preclude adequate time for student skill development.

• Class sizes often too large for appropriate pedagogy• Facilities not designed for pedagogy (small rooms

needed for skills building)• General education courses not geared to the career

needs of majority of students.

10

What are some institutional opportunities for teaching psychology in business schools?

• Faculty shortage in business disciplines offers employment options for Psychologists.

• Psychology can rightly claim expertise in human development, learning, performance management and pedagogy-they can take the lead in directing these core functions of universities.

• Psychology can rightly claim expertise in helping universities address key problematics-program evaluation, competency modeling and assessment design.

• The models of psychology can help universities promote both personal and professional development.

• Psychologists have a tradition of working well in interdisciplinary settings.

• Psychological theories and models can and do serve as the foundation for many business relevant phenomena-worker behavior, consumer behavior, leader behavior.

11

On balance:

• Psychology must be an indispensable component of contemporary business education in the world today.

• Some psychologists are key players in contemporary business education in the world today.

• Collectively we, as psychologists, can do more to insure that we will be seen a relevant well into the future.

12

Thank you

September 9th, 2007