A century ago Münsterberg (1913) envisaged the possibility of a psychology of business life. Whilst supporting that thought, Hearnshaw (1942; 1970) points out, that Münsterberg focussed his work on three key-areas: Firsly, the selection of the right (wo)men for the right place. Secondly, the establishment of the best possible (psychological) conditions to maximize output and finally, the influencing of the human mind by means of advertising and salesmanship. Hearnshaw (1942; 1970) continues to argue that the topics in Münsterberg’s third heading are not concerned with behavior at work. Rather they fall under a different branch of psychology: Economic and/or Consumer Psychology. Contemporary approaches (e.g. Landy & Conte, 2010) replace the third field with Human Factor Psychology, whilst still agreeing with the first and second area roughly representing personnel psychology and organisational psychology, respectively.
The school of HRM and Psychology offers the exchange programme Industrial Psychology. Courses are taught competency based, offering a mix of knowledge and skills. The approach taken is generally psychological, yet enriched by an economic perspective, thanks to the collaboration with the school of Management, Economy and Law.