ORGL - Organizational Leadership

This course provides an analysis of foundational theories and practices of leadership, emphasizing the application of theoretical concepts to real-life leadership situations. Also examined are the impact of organizational history and structure on today's leadership challenges. Psychometric instruments used in this course: Big Five Personality Test, Type A, Emotional Intelligence, modified MBTI, Self-Monitoring, Narcissism.

This course provides extensive opportunity for self-assessment and discovery of leadership abilities, as well as communication, decision-making, and learning styles. It explores personality theories, key contributors and factors, including personal and professional experiences, values, and attitudes. Course provides students with the opportunity to discover, discuss, and analyze their leadership style utilizing several inventories for identifying leadership competencies. Focus is on applying various instruments to assess effectiveness of personal, interpersonal, and organizational leadership styles. Psychometric instruments used in this course: MBTI, Keirsey Temperament Sorter (KTSII), FIRO-B, Rath StrengthsFinder.

This course focuses on the governance and management issues of higher education and the interface between the social and political forces. It will develop the context for understanding public and private institutions, academic and administrative organization, and governance generally and as these affect student-institution relationships. Emphasis will be placed on connecting the historical perspectives of higher education with the current leadership/governance issues of today. Theoretical frameworks and organizational models will be used for analysis.

This course engages students in their discovery of skills, practices, and theories related to organizational change. Students will identify key factors influencing organizational change, learn skills to minimize resistance to change, and analyze key competencies of effective change leaders. Case studies will be examined as the course compares/contrasts different change models and distinguishes key success factors in making change efforts last within our organizations. Using their newly learned resources, students will develop a change leadership "roadmap" that integrates key learning objectives and demonstrates their success as a change leader.

This course combines the theory and application of team development. As a member of a group, students will develop a work product and have the opportunity to improve their skills in observing and analyzing group behavior as well as determining the role and impact of leadership. Students will improve their skills as a member and leader of a group. Students will gain a theoretical understanding of group development within organizations, how teams differ from work groups, and how and when to develop high performance teams.

This course will engage students in the discussion of ethics, studying how personal values, ethical models and reflective processes shape our ethical decision making in a leadership context. Discussions and study will be grounded in western philosophical though and organizational and societal moral realities including social responsibility with special attention to servant leadership. Research will focus on ethical leadership, its importance, and how leaders/learners can continue to integrate ethics into their own leadership stance.

This course examines various strategies to strengthen organizational efficiency and employee engagement by facilitating productive work relationships and implementing conflict management tools. The course explores common causes of conflict in a diverse workplace environment as well as successful approaches for negotiation and conflict resolution. We will leverage assessment tools to support students to gain a greater awareness of their own conflict management patterns and how to embrace additional approaches to reach win-win outcomes that can foster motivation, engagement and performance on the job. Contemporary approaches to employee motivation and engagement will be examined as well.

Content of the course will focus both on cognitive skills (knowledge of the theories and strategies) and behavioral skills (enacting various strategies). The course also includes assessment tools whereby students can gain a greater understanding of their usual strategy along with its strengths and weaknesses. Critical thinking skills must be applied in the course. A mark of a leader is the ability to know when to go against prevailing thinking. So, while various "lists" may be introduced during the course, students are expected to challenge those lists and ascertain what is valuable in them and what is not. The course is not designed to resolve all conflicts. Using real life case studies, this course explores the theories, practices, and issues involved in managing conflict in interpersonal and intergroup settings. Also discussed are methods available to leaders to use conflict to advance their organization. Psychometric instrument used in this course: Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument.

This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the potential contribution of mentoring and coaching programs as resources for leadership development. With an understanding of the skills and structures required for both mentoring and coaching programs, students will discern opportunities and design plans for implementing and evaluating programs to develop professional leaders in their own organizations.

This course provides an overview of organizational and leadership coaching and introduces students to the coaching competencies, their significance, and how to apply them in working with coaching clients. It also provides context for coaching credentials, niches and specialties, professional connections, and organizing yourself as a coach. The course provides an introduction to the role and application of ethics and standards in the professional coaching environment. It is a foundational class that will assist students in developing the knowledge and resources needed to handle ethical dilemmas that present themselves in the coach-client relationship.

This course teaches students how to apply various different coaching models and techniques to real-world coaching scenarios. The models offer a useful, powerful structure and steps to follow in the coaching process. Students will learn how to incorporate systems elements into coaching within organizational settings. Topics include the A-B-C Model, Appreciative Coaching, Career Coaching, and uncovering deep structure thoughts. This course will build on the Solution Focused Coaching model and will include peer practice sessions.

This course teaches students how to strategically plan and create their coaching practice from the point of view of the successful independent practitioner as well as how to start a coaching initiative within an organization. Topics include defining the right approach to attract coaching clients, making the correct choice about niches and specialties, using technology to manage and grow a coaching practice, how to expand into corporate coaching markets, client retention and referrals, and how to leverage strategic coaching alliances.

This course teaches students the basic concepts about qualitative and quantitative research practices and discusses how these are applied to the field of coaching. This course also provides students with an overview of how to use leadership assessments in a coaching relationship. These leadership assessments are often used in coaching to develop the client’s awareness, to jump start the initial phase of the coaching, and to provide data for goal setting and return on investment.

This course examines contemporary approaches to motivation and the design and implementation of motivational strategies for effective individual and group performance. Students will review the work of theorists such as Hertzberg, Hackman and Oldham, Deci and Ryan, as well as emerging models of workplace motivation. Psychometric instrument used in this course: Rath StrengthsFinder.

Reviewing the characteristics of the organization, administration, and functions of student affairs programs, this course looks at the concrete services offered. Perspectives in planning, annual rotation of events and services, staffing issues, foundational budgeting, and other areas of management will be reviewed. These services will be considered in regard to mission, diversity, traditional and non-traditional students. Students will engage in actual design and share in the implementation of student service initiatives in the learning context.

This course will review traditional management planning processes and then examine the planning process from a strategic perspective. Students will learn how to apply a variety of management tools and techniques for decision making and will develop strategic approaches to management decisions. This course is designed to encourage students to think strategically and operationally about organizations in an increasingly diverse management environment. Students develop a strategic plan in this course following the Bryson model.

This course focuses on how to research and understand the elements contributing to an organization's unique culture, including basic philosophy, value system, communication patterns and styles, and social roles. Students will learn how to assess the development of organizational structures and behavior factors within organizations of different types and sizes.

This course will prepare students to read, develop, and write financial text for organizational leadership. Organizational leadership involves the allocation and distribution of resources as well as an ongoing knowledge of the financial impact of the local, regional, and national economies. Offering an overview of inter-relations of money and markets, investment, and financial management, the course proceeds to develop concrete skills in regard to fiscal leadership. Designed as a graduate-level focus on financial analysis, design and reporting from a leadership perspective, the course will provide students an opportunity to focus on organizational issues which have a financial impact on the entity.

This course is an experiential and theoretical exploration in an area of focused study regarding organizational development. Independent inquiry is directed by a member of the faculty. Students with well defined interest areas and practicum directions are encouraged to consider this mode of learning. Contact the program director for more information.

This course explores the knowledge and skills talent development professionals need to be effective in their roles of creating the processes, systems, and frameworks that foster learning, maximize individual performance, and develop the capacity and potential of employees.

This course focuses on the skills, and abilities needed by training and development professionals to ensure talent development is a primary mechanism driving organizational performance, productivity, and operational results.

Courses of particular interest to students are developed by the faculty and delivered throughout the year. Small groups of students are encouraged to gather for discussion of particular topics with members of the faculty.

This course will explore fundamental aspects of leadership based on ethics, critical thinking and decision making.  In today’s complex and global organizational markets, ethical leadership has been linked to employee and organizational satisfaction. Ethical leadership is based upon the ability to think critically about different perspectives and angles that impact decision making, including organizational / individual values, purpose, and perspectives. As leaders we want to make sure we are able to effectively use critical reasoning rooted in ethics to make sound judgments and decisions.  Using current organizations as the basis for learning, students will learn how to apply critical thinking and decision-making to foster decisions grounded in integrity and ethics.  

This course provides students with processes and techniques for conducting applied research in the workplace, evaluating various programs and initiatives at work, and critically evaluating and interpreting data to create informed decisions. It focuses on developing decision-making skills and methodologies for examination, evaluation, and prioritization of workplace information. It takes a practical approach to research, prepares students to evaluate the quality of workplace research instruments and data, and builds a foundation for aligning organizational objectives to workplace data. 

This three-credit course provides an opportunity for students to apply theory and learning from the MAOL program to the introduction of a collaborative change intervention in a real-life, organizational setting. By studying workplace scenarios and issues, students explore a vision for continuous improvement in the study of leadership. The Capstone process, which involves the student in conducting a detailed case analysis, includes a paper and presentation.