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Master of Science in Organizational Leadership and Change Course Descriptions

30 Total Credit Hours

Required Courses

  • BUS 603 – Organizational Development/Behavior 3 credits. Organizational Development and Behavior is the study of human behavior in an organizational setting. The purpose of this kind of study is to equip organizational leaders with the insight necessary to develop interpersonal relationships that will build teams, increase productivity, enhance the quality of work life, orchestrate change, improve employee retention, and augment communication. Topics in management including: Perception, Personality and Attitudes, Group Process: Building Teams, Communication, Orchestrating Change, Motivation, Empowerment, Leadership, Performance Appraisals and Business Ethics.
  • BUS 616 – Business Ethics 3 credits. This interdisciplinary course explores and implements the critical thinking and managerial and ethical decision-making skills necessary for developing ethical organizations and an ethical society. The objective of this course is to design ethical organizations and create organizations of high integrity. Students explore real-life ethical dilemmas and benchmark their organization’s performance with the best practices in business ethics. 
  • ORG 605 – Employee Learning & Development 3 credits. This highly practical and relevant course emphasizes individual and organizational adult learning concepts and theories as well as pragmatic application that will accelerate effective organizational learning and development. Students learn and apply the techniques and procedures used in the development of adult learners, including employment settings in different organizations and at all organizational levels. Course topics include creating a culture of learning, theories of learning and teaching, practices that enhance adult learning (performance consulting, needs analysis, design and delivery). The course includes contemporary and emerging perspectives as they pertain to movements toward individualized learning, learning in a social enterprise, new discoveries in neuroscience, and technological advancements. 
  • ORG 610 – Organizational Theory and Design 3 credits. This course focuses on organizations as entities within a diverse social system. Organizations are striving to survive in an environment that is unpredictable and turbulent, where stakeholder demands for social and environmental responsibility are escalating, and where intense pressures to remain competitive drive strategy and leadership. As an introduction to current perspectives in organizational theory and design, the course explores how organizations as systems are designed and structured in relation to their environments, leadership, culture, capability, and processes.  Attention is paid to how an organization is equipped for organizational effectiveness and performance in order to sustain value creation.   
  • ORG 615 – Organizational Leadership 3 credits. Leadership, provides students with an overview of a variety of theories, methods, and models of leadership, with an emphasis on the cultural context in which leadership is pursued. Students will explore their own model of leadership by reflecting on the models presented in class, through interactions with peers/colleagues within the course, and by constructing a leadership profile. 
  • ORG 630 – Organizational Change 3 credits. Investigates the nature of change, forces for change, and the impact of change on its recipients. Introduces students to the practice of organization development with respect to change efforts in organizations as they examine their own roles and skill sets as change agents. Stresses the design and implementation of various organizational interventions. Students learn to choose between, and then design, appropriate interventions to transform an organization from a current state to a desired future state. 
  • ORG 640 – Sustain Decision-Making for Leaders 3 credits. Effective decision making is key to success in the workplace and beyond. In organizations, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making are among the most important tasks people perform on a daily basis. However, increasing levels of complexity can put a significant strain on our judgment, often leading to poor choices that can have a long-term impact. Learn key decision-making concepts and processes necessary for developing and implementing long-term strategies that create a competitive advantage to support sustainable organizations. Understand factors that impact individual and group decision-making processes as well as tools and techniques to improve strategic decision making with a focus on sustainability. Learn how to avoid common decision-making errors and blunders that lead to failure in the competitive marketplace. This course is essential for  leading the strategic decision-making processes and impacting the direction of the organization. 
  • ORG 690 – Strategic Leadership 3 credits. This course focuses on strategic thinking in organizational leadership as a process to develop the strengths of a system or organization, and to deliver positive results. Strategic Leadership is designed to equip students with the skills, perspectives, and frameworks needed to lead an organization in achieving its mission and realizing its vision. Through application of prior course learning, students will assess the performance of an organization and devise a plan for continual improvement and systematic innovation within the context of its operating environment​.  

Program Elective Courses 

Students should select 6 credits from the following list. 

  • BUS 601 – Executive Communication 3 credits. This course surveys key managerial communication perspectives with a focus on managerial and organizational effectiveness. The course prepares the student to utilize technical, verbal, nonverbal and social-media tools to improve their own communication skills. Students self-evaluate and improve prior communication events, generate improved feedback processes, and participate in a group project to evaluate the culture and communication of real-world organizations. The course concludes with the development of a Communication Strategy for a real-world organization. 
  • BUS 606 – Strategic Marketing 3 credits. This is a course that intends to integrate marketing knowledge and apply it in addressing strategic decision making situations. Strongly emphasizing application, the course is centered around the process of analyzing cases in marketing management with the express purpose of making clear, specific, and justifiable strategic marketing decisions. This course emphasizes the use of analytical skills in making judgments under uncertainty in a variety of marketing contexts, including strategic selling, sales management, new product introduction, franchising, marketing research, and others. It is intended to help students apply critical thinking skills in making better decisions using strategic criteria. 
  • BUS 762 – Quality as a Business Strategy 3 credits. Students will develop an understanding of innovation and quality as key strategic options for organizations in the commercial, public and not-for-profit sectors. Students will discuss how companies are using data science and analytics to encourage innovation and quality. Students will also learn about ways to estimate the return on investment (ROI) from innovation. They will identify an innovative idea relevant to the products, services, processes or strategies of their employer / industry, and learn to use planning and implementation tools such as logic models and project charters in the context of their innovative idea. The course is designed to help students learn through readings, multiple real-life business case studies and hands-on practice. 
  • BUS 791 – Special Topics in Mgmt & Marketing 3 credits. Current topics relevant to the changing world of business.
  • ORG 620 – Individual and Team Interventions 3 credits. This course focuses on how people’s behavior is influenced by their actions and the actions of others in organizational settings. This course examines individual and team interventions from a business perspective. Professionals in the workforce today are facing new challenges and the rapid pace of organizational change requires us to deepen our expertise and prepare for the demands of the present and future. Successfully designing, aligning, and implementing adaptive people management practices is an essential component of organizational effectiveness and value delivery. Topics covered include individual performance improvement, performance coaching, teams and teamwork, conflict resolution, change management, motivation and process consulting. The course is designed to be highly practical, current, and relevant. 
  • ORG 625 – Leading in a Global Context 3 credits. Leadership is a necessary factor for organizations to compete successfully in the global marketplace. This course introduces concepts and theories of leading organizations in a global context with particular emphasis on an organization’s global strategy and organizational factors within the context of its industry and the global economy. 
  • ORG 635 – Consultation in Organizations 3 credits. Theoretical and practical examination of the process of consulting in organizations in an applied learning setting is examined in both internal and external organizational consulting practices. Effective consulting can support the creation of workplaces that are more collaborative, agile, and ultimately more successful. Topics include entry and contracting, diagnosis and role setting, implementation, evaluation, withdrawal, and maintenance. The course also provides pragmatic suggestions for dealing with difficult clients, and contains expansive guidelines on engaging forms of implementation. Students learn to effectively contribute in teams, develop and empower others, and apply what they learn directly to organizations.