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Research Centre Centre for Organisational Psychology

The Centre for Organizational Psychology (COP) at Roskilde University is a research centre within the Department of People and Technology that works to develop and disseminate knowledge in the field of organizational psychology.

Organizational psychology is the branch of psychology that examines how people think, feel, and act in work-related contexts or while collaborating on a task. This can involve both:

  • Individual psychological processes: the experiences, thoughts, emotions, and actions of individuals
  • Organizational psychological processes, i.e., the interaction between individuals, organizations, and other organizations
  • Group dynamic processes, i.e., the social and psychological processes that arise during the collaboration itself
    Purpose

The centre engages in research, education, outreach, and consulting at the national and international levels. COP develops and disseminates international knowledge in organizational psychology, builds national and international networks around the academic tradition, fosters the professional development of specialists, and provides the research foundation for the university’s Master’s program in Organizational Psychology (MPO).

Focus

At COP, we work at the intersection of leadership, organizational and personal development, collaboration across stakeholders and organizations, democratic development, and systemic change. COP’s ambition is to contribute to more reflective, democratic, and sustainable ways of organizing and leading change across organizational and societal boundaries.

Approach

The Centre’s work focuses on how conscious and unconscious processes influence task performance and collaboration within groups, organizations, and between organizations. The Center often draws on a psychodynamic systems theory perspective. This approach combines systems theory’s focus on relationships and wholes with psychoanalysis’s focus on the unconscious.

Education

The centre’s research forms the basis for the university’s Master’s program in Organizational Psychology (MPO) (only in Danish) and is shared with international master’s programs in our academic tradition.

Tandhjul

  • Contact

    Head of Centre Manon de Jongh, Assistant professor, dejongh@ruc.dk 
     

    Researchers

    Researchers at the Centre for Organisational Psychology

  • At the Centre for Organisational Psychology, we collaborate with fellow researchers and subject matter experts, organisational psychologists, organisational consultants, and managers on research projects. We also collaborate on the training of Ph.D. students.

    Examples of current research projects: 

    • Reversal Theory: a methodology development project investigating how reversal theory can enhance consulting work in small groups 
    • Green Transition: various studies examining how organisational psychological processes influence the green transition—for example, within the Green Tripartite—and how these processes can best be managed by leaders, project managers, partners, and other stakeholders
    • The Art of Leadership: a study examining the impact of leadership training based on and implemented through artistic methods and psychodynamic thinking
    • New Governance Model for Co-Created Research: A study examining the development of a research community between several municipalities and Roskilde University that focuses on empowerment in the public sector
    • The Hidden Dynamics of Projects: A study examining how psychodynamic factors interact with the formal structures of project organisations, and how they influence collaboration, decision-making, and project outcomes under conditions characterized by uncertainty and pressure
    • Co-leadership: A project investigating co-leadership as a form of organisation. Including an analysis of a merger between a co-led organisation and a traditionally hierarchically led organisation, finding a common path forward.
    • Group Dynamics Network: a whole-system development study examining how the various professional traditions within group dynamic thinking in Denmark can collaborate on the development of a cross-disciplinary network
    • Social Dreaming: a method development project that explores how Social Dreaming can support learning and creativity in conferences 

  • Master’s programmes we collaborate with

    Coaching and Organizational Change
    University of Chile, Chile. Director: Associate Professor Matias Sanfuentes, ph.d.

    Inside Dynamics in Organisations (IDO)
    Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Director: Drs. Martijn van der Spek

    Consulting and Leading in Organisations: Psychodynamics and Systemic Approaches (D10/ED10) 
    Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. Director: Gwen Hanrahan

    Master of Leadership and Management (Organisation Dynamics) 
    National Institute of Organisation Dynamics (NIODA), Melbourne, Australia. Course Lead: Thomas Mitchell

    Master i Læreprocesser – specialisering i Ledelses- og Organisationspsykologi (LOOP) 
    Aalborg Universitet, Danmark. Course Lead: Lektor Søren Frimann, ph.d.

    Master i Organisationspsykologi (MPO) 
    Roskilde Universitet, Danmark. Course Lead: Anette Højgaard Jønson

    The Program in Organizational Consultation & Development (P-OCD) 
    Israel. Directors: Hagit Shachar-Paraira ph.d. and Miri Tsadok


    International PhD schools with which we collaborate

    NIODA’s Doctor of Philosophy 
    National Institute of Organisation Dynamics (NIODA), Melbourne, Australia. Course Lead: Professor Wendy Harding and Professor Susan Long

    Professional Doctorate in Consulting and Leading in Organisations 
    Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK. Director: Dr. Nick Waggett
     

    Other collaboration

    Center for Citizen Dialogue  
    Center for Practice Research (in Danish)
    Institute for Group Analysis Aarhus (in Danish)
    Institute for Group Analysis, Copenhagen (in Danish)
    Group Relations Australia 
    International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO)
    Dutch Association for Citizens’ Assemblies G1000 (in Dutch)
    The Art of Leadership (in Danish)
    MPO Alumni Network (LinkedIn group)
    Network for Applied Psychodynamic and Systems-Theoretical Organizational Psychology (NAPSO - in Danish)
    Network for Group Dynamics DK
    Organizational Psychology Education (OPU - in Danish)
    Organization for Promoting Understanding of Society (OPUS)
    ORGESS, Research Group on Organization, Ethics, and Social Sustainability, Roskilde University   

  • COP’s advisory board serves as a sounding board and strategic advisor to the centre’s management.

    The Advisory Board’s responsibilities are: 

    • Strategic advice: Provides guidance on the centre’s overall goals, research strategy, and future development. 
    • Quality assurance: It evaluates and assesses the relevance of the research, including whether the centre meets academic standards and addresses current societal challenges. 
    • Building Bridges to the Outside World: Ensures contact with key stakeholders, the business community, public organizations, and key recipients of the knowledge generated by the centre. 
    • Consultation on dissemination: Helps ensure that the centre’s knowledge is utilized and widely disseminated throughout society and in professional practice.

    Members

    Leading international researchers and subject matter experts

    Judit Gaspar, PhD, Associate professor. Head of Department of Decision Science, Corvinius University of Budapest, Hungary

    Larry Hirschhorn, PhD, Principal and founder CFAR, USA

    Lotte Svalgaard, ph.d. Organisationspykolog og konsulent INSEAD Business School, Denmark

    Mark Stein, Professor emeritus of Leadership and Management at the University of Leicester, UK

    Susan Long, Professor NIODA, Australia

    Wendy Harding, Professor NIODA, Australia
     

    Stakeholders and users

    Anette Højgaard Jønson, Course Lead Master i Organisationspsykologi (MPO)

    Gwen Hanrahan, Course Lead MA in Consulting & Leading in Organisations: psychodynamic and systemic approaches

    Dr. Nick Waggett, Course Lead Professional Doctorate in Consulting and Leading in Organisations
     

    National representatives from the field

    Anne Tortzen, PhD, Center for Borgerdialog

    Lotte Lüscher, PhD, and Karina Solsø, PhD, Center for Praksisforskning

    Morten Svalgaard Nielsen. Ledelseskunst, Region Østdanmark 
     

    Research colleagues at Roskilde University 

    Katia Dupret, PhD, Associate professor

    Linda Lundgaard Andersen, PhD, Professor

    Luise Li Langergaard, PhD, Associate professor

    Susanne Ekman, PhD, Associate professor

News

Upcomming events

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Here you will find a list of events and conferences for those of you with an interest in organisational psychology.

Harold Bridger Award to centre leader

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The International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations (ISPSO) celebrates the creativity, originality and relevance of papers written by newest members.

Publications

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Activities

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Press-media

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Overblik over forskning på RUC

Base at Roskilde University

The Centre for Organisational Psychology is part of the Department of People and Technology 

Related research units: Organization, Ethics, and Social Sustainability research group

PhD programme: Doctoral School of People and Technology

Degree programmes:  Master i Organisationspsykologi (DK) // Psykologi (DK)

Research from Roskilde University

Research – overview

ikon for website

More about the centre

More information about the Centre for Organisational Psychology

The Research Centre at the Roskilde University Research Portal

 

Profil

Contact

Head of centre

Manon de Jongh
Assistant professor
Phone: +45 2655 4030
dejongh@ruc.dk