Organizational psychology is the intersection between business and psychology. It places emphasis on the people within the workplace specifically considering their attitudes, feelings, and behaviors. Expertise in this field can be utilized in many roles and organizations because anywhere that has employees will have a need for coaching, consulting, or leadership development and team building. Azusa Pacific University’s MS Organizational Psychology program in the School of Business and Management (SBM) is an excellent choice for students due to its hands-on approach, theoretically and practically knowledgeable faculty, and faith integration. Launched in 2015 by Wendi McGehee ’94, PhD, CF-LSP and David Dunaetz, PhD, their respective business and psychology backgrounds led to a curriculum that is intentionally designed to help students grow in academic and field competence with personal and professional confidence.
Blending Theory and Practical Knowledge
The organizational psychology curriculum blends scientific knowledge about human factors and businesses with practical hands-on projects through coaching, advising, and building relationships with organizations. “During the program, I had the opportunity to work on several projects with five different organizations, which helped me put and tailor the theory into practice,” said Mark Gobrail, MS ’22, an alumnus and adjunct professor in the program. “Seeing how what we learn plays out and can work differently from one place to another helped me gain confidence in the way I approach my work.” Not only does the hands-on element of the program allow students to test their theoretical knowledge, but it also helps students build their portfolios for long-term success. “Being able to use theory in real life experiences that is transferable to the workplace and future jobs is phenomenal,” said Alondio Hill ’25.
Strong Student Community and Faculty Support
While the program is mostly asynchronous with elements of in-person learning, APU’s faculty facilitates genuine collaborations and conversations between students to cultivate a supportive learning community. “It was extremely helpful to be able to collaborate as a team with other students in the program,” Hill said. “We were able to learn how to navigate real life situations by wrestling through the differences in each other’s thoughts and working through processes. We received consulting and coaching experience that helped to build our resume while going through the degree program and prompted change by interacting with our peers.”
Support and community are also important in professors’ interactions with their students. Adjunct professor Jaimie Yun, MS ’22, ACC, cultivates transformational learning through utilizing coaching and consulting techniques in the classroom and in meetings with her students. “I love helping facilitate students’ a-ha moments where they realize the beauty of coaching as an art. It’s about inquiring and exploring rather than advising,” she said. “Through conversations and coaching examples, I’m teaching my students that when you come alongside clients, you gain insights and can incorporate a posture of humble curiosity to help clients reach their potential.”
Forming personal and professional connections is an integral part of the program that each professor encourages because having a relational outlook on organizational psychology has been well received by alumni and organizations. “The degree helped me advance in my career because of the perspective and value it added to me as a professional which in turn added to my organization and team,” Gobrail said. “In this field, organizations view this work as transactional, but I learned that to fix something, I need to balance between transactional and relational work.”
Faith Integration and Application
Faith integration is an influential aspect of the program for students of all faith backgrounds and has been the catalyst for genuine conversations and personal growth through reflection. “APU is an environment where students can contemplate and express thoughts without judgement,” Yun said. “In that kind of environment, students reach deeper levels of learning because it’s not just about knowing theories, but reflecting on what those concepts mean for us as individuals with purpose and meaning beyond the tangible world.”
Beside giving students intentional opportunities to share their faith and learn from others in class, faith is often naturally incorporated into the curriculum. “We encourage students to use their faith in exercises, but the program's nature of working to make organizations better for everyone involved is already an application of what it means to love and serve others,” said Dunaetz. During his time in the program, Hill has found the faith integration aspect to be influential in how he sees interacting with his peers and future clients.
The program has taught me how to bring not only academic excellence into the field, but excellence with God, the Holy Spirit, and the principles of Scripture. We learn how to use those principles, and while we don’t always overtly reference the Bible, it’s all very connected to Jesus’ model of creating disciples by preaching the Gospel in a way that is respectful to people’s place in their faith journey.David Dunaetz
Real World Projects and Successful Graduate Outcomes
The key to post-graduation success is the program’s focus on present workplace success. “Whether students are working as a barista or HR manager when they come into the program, they’re working with people and need to understand the organizational system,” Dunaetz said. Faculty encourage students to make their projects applicable to their current jobs. In his work as a youth pastor, Hill actively uses what he’s learned in his classes to effectively create change through his interactions with coworkers. “We want our students to use every class to benefit them and their workplace,” Dunaetz said. Students often ask professors if they can tweak certain elements of their projects to be applicable to their workplace or to make a change in their current job. “You get out what you put into the program, so we encourage students to craft assignments that make sense for them, and we’re definitely willing to help with that,” he said. The program’s statistics have shown that students land their first job in the field or get a promotion about halfway through the program, proving how effective and applicable each course is.
Before graduating, students’ final project is writing a thesis with an original hypothesis, research, data collection, and analysis. Their theses are then published by Proquest and appear on Google Scholar and are often cited by scientists in the field. Since the program's inception 10 years ago, students have gone on to succeed in various jobs within the field during their enrollment and after graduation often with a focus on the topic of their thesis. “Encouraging students to complete their thesis on a topic of personal interest in the field allows them to use their research to land jobs and receive promotions because they are able to speak the language of the industry,” Dunaetz said.
Students of any completed undergraduate background who are looking for a master’s degree in a challenging yet rewarding field are encouraged to apply for the MS Organizational Psychology program at any of the six program entry points (two in the fall, two in the spring, and two in the summer). Students may also be eligible for scholarships through the SBM.