Doctoral study in Positive Organizational Psychology trains scholars whose research seeks to enhance and broaden the human experience within organizational settings.

The applications of positive psychology to improving performance and quality of work are immediate and clear. This distinctive program trains scholars to improve organizational effectiveness and individual work life through advanced research in positive psychology. Ideal for those committed to creating socially responsible organizations, the program explores how to meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse workforce in a global economy and community. You’ll have access to a wide array of collaborative research opportunities. From experience sampling methods to quasi-experimental designs, surveys, and interviews, our faculty and students focus their research on lifelong processes and outcomes of behavior as they affect quality of human life.

Program Highlights
  • Curriculum and graduate seminars provide students with the theoretical, methodological, and practical experience to pursue careers in academia or in a range of high-level research and consulting positions.
  • CGU leaped to the forefront of positive psychology research in 1999, when Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi founded the Quality of Life Research Center, a nonprofit institute that researches a range of cutting-edge issues in positive psychology and provides a forum for scholars from across the globe to extend their research and studies in the field.
  • Proximity to organizations in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties provides many employment and educational opportunities for students.
  • All organizational psychology research graduate students are encouraged to gain practical experience through projects, internships, or jobs, often at CGU’s research centers and affiliates, such as the Claremont Evaluation Center or the Health Psychology and Prevention Science Institute.
  • All organizational psychology research students who request financial aid receive fellowships. DBOS also regularly hires students for paid teaching assistantships.
  • DBOS offers a certificate program and professional development workshops in evaluation and applied methods for those seeking continuing education.

Program At a Glance

UNITS
72 units

ESTIMATED COMPLETION TIME*
5-7 years

*Actual completion times will vary and may be higher, depending on full- or part-time course registration, units transferred, and time to complete other degree requirements.

COURSES BEGIN
Fall | Spring

DIVISION
Division of Behavioral & Organizational Sciences

DEGREE AWARDED
PhD in Psychology

Featured Courses

PSYCH 315Z
Comparative Evaluation Theory

Provides basic understanding of prevalent evaluation theories, systems for categorizing these theories, the process of theory development in evaluation, and more.

PSYCH 319
Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Behavior

Doctoral seminar covering core areas of organizational behavior, including such topics as organizational structure, roles, technology, communication, effectiveness, job design, and more.

Psych 350s
Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Development & Change

Doctoral seminar exploring organizational change processes, including problem diagnosis, development of alternative interventions, change management, and more.

PSYCH 321
Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Theory

Topics covered in this course will include theories of organizational structure, organizations as systems and cultures, decision making, intergroup conflict and negotiation, and impacts of information technology on modern organizations.

PSYCH 331
Adult Development: Traditional & Positive Perspectives

Provides an overview of psychosocial development in early, middle, and late adulthood from a lifespan perspective from both classic and positive-psychology perspectives.

PSYCH 329
Foundations of Positive Psychology

Introduces the history, intellectual sources, and main topics of research and application in the burgeoning field of positive psychology.

Student Spotlight

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Curriculum

PhD Unit Requirements
72 units

Positive Organizational Psychology Core Courses (20 units)
Foundations of Positive Psychology (4 units)
Advanced Topics in Organization Psychology OR Positive Psychology (4 units)
Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Behavior (4 units)
Positive Organizational Psychology (4 units)
Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Theory OR Doctoral Seminar in Organizational Development & Change (4 units)

Positive Organizational Psychology & Related Electives (24 units)
Students are required to take an additional 24 units of Positive Organizational Psychology or related coursework, following an approved plan of study. Choose from:

Doctoral Seminar on Industrial Psychology (4 units)
Positive Psychology Research Practicum (2 to 4 units)
Motivation & Peak Performance (4 units)
Flow: The Psychology of Positive Experience (2 units)
Creativity & Innovation (2 units)
Job Design (2 units)
Good Work (4 units)
Appreciative Inquiry for Organizational Change (2 units)
Organizational Learning: Theory & Practice (4 units)
Organizational Culture (4 units)
Leadership (4 units)
Training & Development (4 units)
Theory & Practice of Consulting (4 units)
Adult Development: Classic & Positive Perspectives (4 units)
The Study of Experience (4 units)
Advanced Qualitative Research Methods (4 units)
Talent Management (4 units)
Interpersonal Dynamics in Organizations (4 units)
Jobs, Careers & Calling (4 units)

Students are also encouraged to take elective courses in the School of Educational Studies, the Drucker School of Management, the Division of Politics & Economics, the Center for Information Systems & Technology, the School of Arts & Humanities, and the Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Statistics & Methodology (20 units)
Research Methods (4 units)
Directed Research Seminar: Organizational Behavior (two 2-unit courses)
Intermediate Statistics (2 units)
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) (2 units)
Categorical Data Analysis (2 units)
Applied Multiple Regression (2 units)
PSYCH 315 Sequence: 4 additional units of Advanced Methodology

Field/Teaching Experience (4 units)
Supervised Teaching Seminar (4 units)
or
Field Placement (4 units)

Transdisciplinary Core Course (4 units)
All PhD students are required to enroll in a transdisciplinary core course from the “TNDY” course sequence during their first three semesters at Claremont Graduate University.

Portfolio
In addition to 72 units of coursework, all students must complete a portfolio that represents a cohesive set of experiences balancing training in their area of specialization.

PhD Completion

  • PhD qualifying exam
  • Dissertation proposal
  • Dissertation and oral defense
Faculty & Research
  • Tarek Azzam profile image

    Tarek Azzam

    Senior Visiting Fellow

    Research Interests

    Social Research and Methodologies, Policy & Program Evaluations, Data Visualization and Evaluation

  • Michelle Bligh profile image

    Michelle Bligh

    Executive Vice President & Provost
    Professor of Organizational Behavior

    Research Interests

    Leadership, Organizational Culture, Charismatic Leadership

  • Stewart I. Donaldson profile image

    Stewart I. Donaldson

    Distinguished University Professor
    Executive Director, Claremont Evaluation Center
    Executive Director, The Evaluators' Institute (TEI)

    Research Interests

    Positive Organizational Psychology, Health/Well-Being & Positive Functioning Across Cultures, Program Design & Re-Design, Culturally Responsive Theory-Driven Measurement & Evaluation

    Affiliated with

    Claremont Evaluation Center

    The Evaluators’ Institute

  • M. Gloria González-Morales profile image

    M. Gloria González-Morales

    Associate Professor of Psychology
    Faculty Director, Preparing Future Faculty

    Research Interests

    Work stress; work-life issues; workplace victimization and incivility; relational practices and cultures; diversity; positive organizational interventions to enhance well-being and performance.

  • Jeanne Nakamura profile image

    Jeanne Nakamura

    Associate Professor
    Co-director, Quality of Life Research Center

    Research Interests

    Engagement, Mentoring, Positive Aging

    Affiliated with

    Quality of Life Research Center

  • Becky Reichard profile image

    Becky Reichard

    Associate Professor

    Research Interests

    Development of those not typically represented in leadership roles (e.g., women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+), Psychological mechanisms underlying the process of leader development (e.g., feedback, goal striving, self-views, implicit theories, leader development readiness), Development of leadership through experiences outside of the work context (e.g., global, sports, volunteering, crisis)

  • Jason T. Siegel profile image

    Jason T. Siegel

    Professor of Psychology

    Research Interests

    Social Psychology, Health Psychology, Persuasion

  • Paul J. Zak profile image

    Paul J. Zak

    Professor of Economic Sciences, Psychology & Management
    Director, Center for Neuroeconomics Studies

    Research Interests

    Neuroeconomics, Neuroscience of Narratives, Neuromanagement

Extended Faculty

David Day

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Leadership


Jennifer Feitosa

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Culture, Diversity, Organizational Psychology, Statistics, Teams, Teamwork, Workplace Issues and Trends


Allen Omoto

Pitzer College

Research Interests

Social psychology; volunteerism and prosocial action; environmental concerns; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues; sense of community; civic engagement and civil society


Ronald Riggio

Claremont McKenna College

Research Interests

Human resources management, innovation, leadership, Non-verbal communication, organizational psychology

Where You Can Find Our Alumni

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Regina Burch

Assistant Director of Admissions
T: 909-607-9421
E: regina.burch@cgu.edu