The Role of Psychology in Management Education

1. The Role of Psychology in Management Education Richard Klimoski Dean, School of Management George Mason University September 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