Work and Organizational Psychology deals with the functioning of people in organizations. It includes the way work, organization, and management shapes interact with our thoughts, feelings, motivations, and behaviour. We also look at the consequences of these interactions for relationships, well-being, and job performance.

The field deals with the way people and the work environment reciprocally affect each other. The work environment is shaped by how work is organised and how work processes unfold. The work environment also encompasses formal and informal aspects of organization, such as structures, roles, and relationships.  The field includes a multitude of phenomena, such as organizational hierarchies, culture and identities, organisations undergoing change, good or poor management, learning and development in the workplace, innovation, the use of new technology, psychological work environment and work-life balance.

This field can be used to understand and improve workplaces for employees and organisations, for example by assessing and selecting the most suitable people for a given job, by planning optimal work processes or by preventing stress and creating well-being, and by developing managers and employees, groups and organisations so that they perform, thrive and function in a socially responsible manner and so that they manage conflicts and generate collaboration.