Course Description

The program consists of ten courses during the two-year period (total of 30 credit hours).

First Year

Leadership Assessment and Development
The course provides a framework for students to assess and develop their own leadership competencies and prepares them to assess and develop the competencies of others in organizations. The course addresses career development, leadership coaching, self-leadership, lifelong learning, and the development of emotional intelligence competencies.

Teams and Conflict Management
The course prepares students to work in and to lead teams and to manage conflict in appropriate ways. The course emphasizes the development of positive interpersonal behaviors for teams, team building, effective decision-making and other team processes, and managing the sources of conflict and conflict behaviors in order to resolve organizational problems.

Field Research Methods
The course prepares students to engage in their first field research projects between the first and second year of the program. The course focuses on collaborative and innovative research methods of data collection, data analysis, and data reporting.

Creating High Performing Organizations
The course focuses on how managers promote a high-performing workforce of employees who are competent, committed, and who are involved in meaningful decision- making in the organization. This course will address the components of performance management, various forms of employee involvement, and innovation.

First-Year Public Engagement Practicum
Students will work in groups on a leadership and organizational change consultation project in a non-profit organization under the close guidance of a faculty member. The public engagement practicum provides students with the opportunity to develop their consultation skills, collaborate in applying learning from the first year in the program, and engage with a community client.

Second Year

Organizational Strategy Development and Systems Thinking
This course focuses on the process of formulating strategy and the importance of strategy implementation. The course will examine the relationship between strategy, structure, and organization design. Specific topics include: organization theory, open systems analysis, and socio-technical systems analysis as well as specific interventions such as downsizing, and re- engineering.

Managing Organizational Change
This course examines theories of planned organizational change and their application to organizations. Students will learn how to lead, plan, and implement successful organizational change. The course focuses on issues of organizational culture, organizational learning and knowledge management, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, and other forms of transformational change.

Organizational Consultation
This course will address the study of the consultation process including the skills and techniques involved in action research. The course will focus on entry, contracting, organizational scanning, preliminary diagnosis, and large system interventions. Specific interventions discussed include appreciative inquiry, future search, open spaces, and large-scale change. Ethical and legal issues associated with consulting will also be examined.

Integrating Organizational Change and Leadership
This course is designed as a capstone course that integrates the knowledge and competencies acquired in previous courses. Systems change is required to create lasting organizational change and this course will require students to develop total system change strategies. Global organizational development issues will be considered as well.

Graduation Field Research Project
Each student will work individually on designing and conducting an organizational change or leadership project that will allow them to apply their competencies in an active organization under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Students will submit a professional-quality report at the end of their project.

2011

Class of 2011