The Social Animal at Work
Understanding and Improving Workplace Relations

Discover how social behaviour shapes inclusion at work. The Social Animal at Work is a four-module MOOC exploring the social and organizational processes behind diversity and inclusion. Through knowledge clips, interactive practice activities, applied assignments, and assessments, you will learn to analyse workplace dynamics and translate theory into practical action.

Understanding how people behave at work is essential for creating inclusive and effective organizations. The Social Animal at Work explores how individuals and groups think, feel, and interact in professional settings, and how diversity and inclusion shape these dynamics.

The MOOC consists of four modules:

1. The Nature of Inclusion – explore belonging, authenticity, social groups, and different states of inclusion.

2. Discovering Diversity – examine different forms of diversity and how they can influence teams and performance.

3. The Dynamics of Inclusion – explore how workplace relationships develop through reciprocity, transitivity, and everyday interactions such as gossip.

4. Building Inclusive Workplaces – examine how organizations can foster diversity and inclusion across the employee journey.

Each module follows the same learning cycle: Learn → Practice → Apply → Assess. You first explore the key concepts through a knowledge clip, practise applying them in interactive activities, use them in an applied processing assignment, and complete a module assessment.

The course is self-paced and designed as a 1 ECTS learning experience. To successfully complete the course, you must achieve a score of at least 70% on each of the four module assessments.

Throughout the MOOC, you are encouraged to connect theory to your own experiences and professional context. By moving from understanding to practice and application, you develop both a stronger understanding of inclusion and practical ways to contribute to more inclusive workplaces.

By the end of the course, you will have developed a stronger understanding of how inclusion emerges through everyday interactions, relationships, and organizational processes. We hope this helps you recognize opportunities to contribute to more inclusive workplaces in your own professional context.