Work and Organisation
An intellectually exciting, creative and productive international research group
We are an intellectually exciting, creative and productive international research group, advancing understanding of social processes, people management and organisational effectiveness, whilst also making a demonstrable difference to effective practice and policy in organisations.
Our basic and applied research is highly recognised, both nationally and internationally. It covers individual, team and organisational effectiveness, creativity and innovation, cross-cultural leadership, composition and processes in top management teams and how they relate to organisational effectiveness, and effectiveness of voluntary and non-profit organisations.
Aston's impressive international reputation as a research-led business school owes much to the tradition of the Aston Studies conducted by the Organisation Studies group (as WON was formerly called) in the 1960s and 1970s. The tradition of research into organisational structures, climates and performance continued with Basic and Applied Psychology as a core scientific basis. Under new leadership, we have maintained these firm foundations and added qualitative approaches, such as action research, in order to investigate organisations more holistically.
WON departmental members supervise students and teach a variety of modules in Undergraduate, Postgraduate (MSc, MBA), and Doctoral programmes covering a whole variety of significant topics including:
- Social Psychology
- Work Psychology
- Organisational Behaviour
- Human Resource Management
- Leadership
- International and Cross-Cultural Issues
- Applied Research Methods.
In addition to this broad range of topics covered, members of WON have expertise in state-of-the-art methods such as multilevel analysis and run several large scale surveys.
WON is also home to the healthy work research unit, a group of interdisciplinary researchers focused on promoting healthy work and understanding and responding to emerging challenges in this area. The unit hosts workshops, a podcast, and is engaged in a number of diverse projects tied to healthy work and wellbeing.
Healthy Work Research Unit