What is an Organisational Psychologist? By Jennifer Dowling

One of my favourite stories as a Psychologist is when I was in my early twenties at a college party. Nearly qualified and eager to impress, I proudly shared with a new acquaintance that I was ‘a Psychologist’.  Intrigued and a little inebriated he asked if I’d ever met Tom Cruise?  

It took me a minute before I could follow up with the clarification that I was a Psychologist and not a Scientologist, at which time he drifted off no doubt to tell others that there was a scientologist in their midst. 

As I’ve gone on and studied more and specialised in the area of Organisational Psychology this confusion about what I do has only grown.  

I now teach on a masters programme for Organisational Psychologists and I start by challenging them to explain, what we do as a profession? It’s often met with stuttering, stammering, long winded and confusing responses. I can relate because that’s how I have responded in the past when asked what I do. However, if we can’t tell people what we do how are they supposed to know how to use us or avail of our services. 

In short Organisational Psychologists are concerned with making work better for individuals and for organisations (credit for this definition goes to Adam Grant of the WorkLife Podcast on TED). We take the scientific, psychological research on human behaviour and apply it to people within work and organisational settings.  

Here is some of the common work you’ll find us doing. 

Administering and facilitating Psychometric Assessments and tools for selection and development. Supporting job fit between individuals, roles, organisations and teams. 

Using tools to support team development and enhance team dynamics. This often includes measuring team or organisational culture and using this knowledge to support change. 

Supporting training and development, from identifying training needs, delivering training and evaluating effectiveness of programmes. Many organisations psychologists use performance and leadership psychology research to specialise in leadership related development and coaching. 

Supporting well-being and engagement through conducting surveys, interviews and focus groups, identifying areas for improvement and developing strategies to enhance employee well-being and engagement. 

Overall Organisational Psychologists use their knowledge of human behaviour, motivation and organisational dynamics to help organisations create a positive work environment, improve performance and achieve goals. 

I hope this makes it a little easier to understand what role Organisational Psychologists play in the workplace and if it does could you please tell my grandmother, she still asks every time we meet! 

Optional add on: If you are interested in finding out more about Psychometric Assessments (free and paid) check out our upcoming webinar on: The what, why and how of using Psychometric Assessments in your Organisation.  

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