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Going Global: Internationalizing the Organizational Psychology Curriculum

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Internationalizing the Psychology Curriculum in the United States

Part of the book series: International and Cultural Psychology ((ICUP))

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Abstract

This chapter examines how international training is in organizational psychology, beginning with a look at how internationalized the curriculum (and the focus of the field as a whole) is currently, followed by a discussion of why changes are needed. Ideas as to how to change the curriculum, at the level of the individual program as well as at the level of the profession, are presented as well as advice for individual instructors.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Juliya Golubovich for her assistance in gathering information on the state of the curriculum. This chapter is based upon work supported in part by the US Army Research Laboratory and the US Army Research Office under grant number W911NF-08-1-0144.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Ann Marie Ryan

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Michele Gelfand

Authors
  1. Ann Marie Ryan
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  2. Michele Gelfand
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ann Marie Ryan .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, 48824-1117, Michigan, USA

    Frederick T.L. Leong

  2. Pace University, New York, USA

    Wade E. Pickren

  3. Dept of Educational & Counseling Psychol, University of Louisville, Louisville, 40292, Kentucky, USA

    Mark M. Leach

  4. Nesbit Lakes Drive 8925, Alpharetta, 30022, Georgia, USA

    Anthony J. Marsella

Appendices

Appendix 1: Resources on Cross-cultural Psychology

IACCP-International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology

http://www.iaccp.org

800 Members from 65 countries aim to facilitate communication among persons interested in issues involving the intersection of culture and psychology. Has international meetings every 2 years; regional meetings every year

IAAP-The International Association of Applied Psychology

http://www.iaapsy.org

The oldest international association of psychologists, goal is to establish contact between those in different cultures in various areas of psychology, 16 divisions, including organizational psychology

SCCR-Society for Cross-Cultural Research

http://www.sccr.org

200 Members pursuing cross-cultural research from a multidisciplinary perspective. Psychologists, anthropologists, sociologists, communications, business and education professions; awards for best undergraduate and graduate papers; travel grants

Online Readings in Cross-Cultural Psychology

http://www.ac.wwu.edu/∼culture/contents_complete.htm

Numerous short readings on cross-cultural psychology

Advance in Culture and Psychology Series

http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc.geland/advance.html

An annual volume of reviews of research programs in culture and psychology

Center for Cross-Cultural Study

http://www.cccs.com

Student opportunities for academic semesters abroad to participate in cross cultural exchange programs

The Center for Cross-Cultural Health

http://www.crosshealth.com

Seeks to integrate the role of culture in improving health; internship opportunities

SIOP’s International Directory

http://www.siop.org/internationaldirectory/main.aspx

List of organizations and people around the world of interest to organizational psychology

Teach GlobalEd.net

http://www.coe.ohio-state.edu/globaled/home.cfm

Online modules include primary sources, and web-based connections to five world regions. While designed for teaching courses on globalization, the many web links, lists of print resources, and film resources are valuable

More cross-cultural resource links on the web

http://www.iaccp.org/links.html

Various links for cross-cultural web sites, cross-cultural journals and general psychology organizations

Appendix 2: Examples of Scenarios for Use in Training

Practice Scenario

You are the organizational psychologist in charge of a Fortune 100 company’s global employee survey effort. Surveys are conducted annually with over 140,000 employees in over 60 countries.

  • What tasks must you engage in for the design, administration, and analysis of the survey when surveying globally that would not be part of your project plan when administering within a single country?

  • What additional resources would you request for doing a global versus a single country survey?

  • How will you determine where and when translation of the survey is essential versus administering the survey in English, the language of business in the organization?

  • What data would you collect and what analyses would you conduct to determine the measurement equivalence of the survey across countries?

  • Suppose your survey results show mean differences across countries. What information will you provide to managers for interpreting these results?

Research Scenario

You are planning a research study to consider how cultural factors may create boundaries for a certain theoretical proposition previously investigated in the USA.

  • How would you determine the level of analysis you want to examine this issue at?

  • Given limited resources, how would you decide what cultures to include?

  • What would be considerations in assessing constructs of interest across cultures?

  • How would you determine if a method is appropriate for all the cultures studied?

  • What concerns regarding ethical acceptability across cultures would you face?

  • What considerations would there be in terms of choice of task and instructions, language and translations, and experimenters?

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Ryan, A.M., Gelfand, M. (2011). Going Global: Internationalizing the Organizational Psychology Curriculum. In: Leong, F., Pickren, W., Leach, M., Marsella, A. (eds) Internationalizing the Psychology Curriculum in the United States. International and Cultural Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0073-8_12

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