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Complexity, globalization, and competing demands characterize the realities of leading and managing organizations in today’s environment. The focus of the course is on developing systemic wisdom and long-term perspective. The course combines times for self-reflection, conversation, questioning, and integration of various leadership and management theories to identify approaches to leading people, systems, and organizations in ways that bring restoration, that offer hope, and that work toward promoting the common good.
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Data Analytics for Decision Making (3 SH)
The quality of decision-making in organizations is greatly influenced by the quality of data gathered and by information derived from that data. This course focuses on the use of tools and processes to enhance corporate decision-making strategies. Topics include research design, survey development, defining data and information requirements, how and where data is stored, informatics and business intelligence, critical thinking, and transforming data into meaningful information.
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Utilizing an experiential case study method, this course surveys the evolution of theory, practice, and research in the areas of organizational behavior. Learning topics include motivation theory, group dynamics, leadership, decision-making, conflict transformation, change theory, organization structure, emotional intelligence and communication. This course affirms a systemic perspective and approach to organizational behavior and affirms the concepts implicit in the concept of Leadership for the Common Good.
Financial and Managerial
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Accounting
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(3 SH)
Managers and executives carry fiduciary responsibility for their organizations; it is therefore imperative that they know how to read financial statements, analyze financial health, assess financial risks, and communicate this knowledge effectively to others. The course emphasizes the role of the manager relating to finance and accounting through the analysis of quantitative information largely at the conceptual level. Topics include financial governance, understanding and reading financial statements, financial statement analysis, cost behavior, break-even analysis, budgeting, balanced scorecard, working capital management, and the use of short-term cash planning. The overall aim is to improve organizational decision-making based on financial, social, and ecological metrics.
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Human Capital Development (3 SH)
The second course of this sequence examines more of the quantitative tools managers use in decision making. Topics include an in-depth analysis of value chains, including supply chain and distribution channels, activity-based management, analysis of external funds needed, in-depth analysis of time value of money, and capital budgeting.
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Developing human capital means creating and nurturing organizational environments in which human beings can develop and apply new ideas, competencies, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. This course will enhance your knowledge and understanding of the value created by an engaged workforce. The course will focus on supporting employees developing skills and abilities in an intrinsically engaging environment. In addition we will study ways individuals and organizations benefit from well-managed conflict while limiting destructive conflicts that sap organizational creativity and energy.
Sustainable Organizations and Global Citizenship (3 SH)
This course integrates the three pillars of the Collaborative MBA Program; management, leadership and stewardship for organizational effectiveness and serving the common good. The keystone of the course is an 8-day international residency designed to engage students as reflective practitioners and invite them to develop an openness to new ways of experiencing and thinking about the world through interactions and learning in a different country. One core value of the Collaborative the Collaborative MBA is global citizenship, recognizing that organizations are interdependent and mutually accountable to local, national, and global communities; this suggests that a global perspective is important for today’s business and organizational leaders. This is designed as a capstone course, even though it is scheduled about halfway through the program; it prompts students to test and apply what they have learned in their first year, then the experience becomes an ongoing case study for all subsequent work in the program.
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Financial Management (3 SH)
This course focuses on the tasks of creating and communicating value and gaining loyal customers for an organization in today’s dynamic global marketplace. Topics include marketing strategy and planning, marketing research, the impact of technology on strategic marketing decisions, consumer behavior, ethics in marketing, social media and its role in marketing, internet marketing, customer relationship management, database marketing, and marketing evaluation. Leadership for the Common Good concepts are also offered as a backdrop for an ethical marketing frameworkexamines the quantitative tools managers use in decision making. Topics include an in-depth analysis of value chains, including supply chain and distribution channels, activity-based management, analysis of external funds needed, in-depth analysis of time value of money, and capital budgeting.
Managerial Economics (3 SH)
This course applies insights from economic theory to the functions of managerial planning and decision making within a market-oriented business context. Specific content includes an overview of the market system, consumer demand theory, cost analysis, profit analysis, pricing strategies, the economics of technical change and innovation, the architecture of the firm, employee incentives, international economic impacts and government regulation. Leadership for the Common Good concepts are also offered as competing methods of improving the traditional market system
Concentration Course Descriptions
Accounting and Financial Management Concentration
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Strategic Marketing Management (3 SH)
This course is based primarily focuses on the Auditing section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of the auditing process, from a theoretical perspective. Topics covered in this course will also be reinforced through case analyses.
Business Environment (3 SH)
This course is based primarily on the Business section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of the business environment. The course will explore cost and managerial accounting topics as well as corporate governance and information systems.
Business Regulation (3 SH)
This course is based primarily on the Regulation section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of issues related to business law, corporate structures, and individual and corporate taxation.
Conflict Transformation
Mediation and Negotiation (3 SH)
Negotiation is the fundamental process by which human beings discern how to resolve differences and move forward together—whether in a family, a local community, an organization, a society, or a world community. Mediation adds a third party to the negotiation process, and has proven remarkably effective in resolving and even transforming certain disputes. This course will train participants to be effective negotiators and to serve as impartial mediators, but will also explore the varying contexts in which these processes take place and the variety of perspectives and worldviews that parties bring to a negotiation or mediation process. Each student will be evaluated by the instructor and by class peers for competency in mediation & negotiation skills.
Narratives and Systemic Change or Conflict Coaching (3 SH)
Stories (narratives) shape conflicts and conflicts shape our narratives about the world and our places in it. Deep transformation of any conflict system requires changing our stories about ourselves and about others in the conflict system. In this course, we will learn to listen for and analyze the narratives drivers of conflict at multiple levels of social organization. We will practice techniques for working with and changing stories at all social levels from the intra- and interpersonal level to the national and supranational levels. The course includes exploration of various narrative theories, but the primary focus is on working with stories to promote change.
Summer Peace Building Institute (choose one course that meets in residency)
Health Care
Health Care Economics and Policy (3 SH)
An overview of the macro environment as it relates to health care organizations. Addresses issues related to health care policy/regulation/laws and fundamental concepts of health care economics.
Health Care Informatics (3 SH)
This course studies the collection, organization and utilization of public data bases and patient records in structuring the provision of care and overall management of health care systems.
Health Care Financial Management (3 SH)
An overview of financial issues for health care organizations including budgeting, planning, and financing.
Community Development and Social Action (3 SH)
Courses in this concentration are part of Goshen College’s Masters in Intercultural Leadership and are online courses. You will not have a Wednesday night Zoom session like you have in your core MBA courses. However, you are expected to have regular online interactions with the professor and other students in the course.
Community Development and Social Action (3 SH)
This course provides basic knowledge and skills in community outreach, education, and social mobilization for self-help and advocacy in community based organizations. This course focuses on the professional roles of leaders in community based groups including the role of founder, developer, manager, and other supervisory roles in which development activities are required in order to support social action and social change.
Action Research and Program Evaluation (3 SH) This course provides an overview of action research theory and methods and describes how action research can be used for assessing community needs and program effectiveness. The steps for conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and analyzing an action research project will be examined. Particular attention will be given
to the study of these elements for program evaluation within organizations.
Strategic Human Resource Management (3 SH) In the increasingly diverse environment of the 21st century, human resources are key resources for change and innovation. Unfortunately, few organizations successfully include HR in strategic planning. This course will introduce HR’s role in strategy development and implementation. Topics include aligning HR with organizational values and management strategy, creating high performance work systems, implementing HR planning, and managing HR in contexts such as non- profit organizations, community service groups, and community development.
Leadership
Assessing and Developing Leadership Skills (3 SH)
This course explores the dynamics of the relationship between leaders and followers using both current leadership theory and widely used self-assessment tools.
Leading Innovation and Change (3 SH)
This course will examine the literature on change management and innovation. Students will develop an understanding of their roles as leaders who seek to create conditions within organizations to support and motivate adaptation, innovation and change.
Managing People in Organizations (3 SH) Surveys selected topics related to the management of people in organizations, including personnel selection
and training, motivation, leadership, team building, the organization of work hours and space.
Leading Non-profits
Stewardship, Innovation, and Social Entrepreneurship (3 SH)
A theory and practice 3 SH summer course including a combination of field trips, classroom and online discussion, and case studies focusing on systems approaches to stewardship, innovation, and social entrepreneurship. The course objectives include developing a strategic framework for understanding stewardship design principles found in natural and human ecologies and how to apply them to become more effective organizational leaders; increasing theoretical and practical understanding of the sources of socio-tech innovation, and in co-designing, influencing and leading innovation; and developing an understanding of social entrepreneurship (SE) and how corporations, public agencies, and nonprofit organizations apply SE strategies to more effectively achieve their missions and objectives. Students will be encouraged, at their sole option, to contribute to the field either through service (1 SH elective practicum) or research (1 cu publishable paper).
Ethics and International NGO’s (3 SH)
This course is prepared for students who envision themselves as practitioners in the global humanitarian enterprise, working in, with, or through, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). INGOs confront many ethical challenges, dilemmas, and considerations as they work to meet their objectives of providing assistance to individuals, groups, and countries, often across differences of culture, wealth, power, and world view. This course aims to help students build a framework for understanding universal and contextual ethics within the broad INGO arena, both internally within organizations, and externally as impact on others. A significant challenge of this course is to help students recognize and identify their own biases and blinders, learn from the practical experiences of others, and effectively widen their view to the opportunities, possibilities, and pitfalls of the INGO humanitarian enterprise.
Project Management and Grant Writing (3 SH) Organizations are increasingly utilizing projects to perform activities and operations, creating a growing requirement for specific management skills and tools in areas of project management. Applying theory and practice, this course explores management needs through each phase of the project life-cycle, from initiating, planning, performing, and closing projects. Projects are often funded differently than ongoing operations, and this course provides special consideration of that reality, and what it means to organizations and project managers
Sustainability
Courses in this concentration are part of Goshen College’s Business Program and have a weekly class in Zoom on Wednesday nights like you have in your core MBA courses.
Sustainable Business Models
This course explores sustainability models, reporting approaches and corporate structures. These models and tools are utilized to create a sustainable platform that serves as a base for students to apply across the Sustainability concentration. Students will learn about the theory, analytical and applied approaches to drive the changes required to promote a sustainable economy. Mastery of the tenets of Natural Capitalism and Natural Step for Business provide students foundational knowledge for driving sustainability application and practice
Economics of Sustainability (3 SH)
This course explores the transformation necessary to create a sustainable economy using a triple-bottom-line perspective: planet, people and profit. Students will learn about the organizational and structural changes required to promote a sustainable economy, focusing on the objectives of sustainable scale, just distribution and efficient allocation as well as public- and private-sector strategies to support the transition from carbon-based resources to renewables.
Applied Business Sustainability (3 SH)
In this course students apply the knowledge of sustainability models, systems and economics to a sustainability project they design. Students will apply the sustainability tools learned during the previous concentration courses and will synthesize all facets of sustainability into their sustainability project. Assessment will be based on students’ comprehension of the challenges presented by the project and their ability to evaluate effective options to drive sustainable gains. This course requires more independent work and may require fewer Wednesday night class sessions.
Self-designed
Choose three of any of the above courses. Note that some of these courses may be scheduled at the same time. Refer to the academic calendar to determine course time.tasks of creating and communicating value and gaining loyal customers for an organization in today’s dynamic global marketplace. Topics include marketing strategy and planning, marketing research, the impact of technology on strategic marketing decisions, consumer behavior, ethics in marketing, social media and its role in marketing, internet marketing, customer relationship management, database marketing, and marketing evaluation. Leadership for the Common Good concepts are also offered as a backdrop for an ethical marketing framework.
Narrative Leadership (3 SH)
Effective leaders communicate to inspire talent to excel; to partner with investors and communities; to engage with customers and clients and to grow their impact in the world as part of a global community. These communications are understood and acted upon based on the perceived context of the communication. Effective leaders are attentive to the ways that they shape the narratives that form the context for this communication. This course helps leaders to shape their own story and the organizational stories to cultivate an authentic, trustworthy and compelling narrative whether oral or written, in person or embedded within social media, in small groups and with large audiences.
Strategic Leadership in a Multicultural World (3 SH)
Historically the field of strategy has focused on strategies as mechanisms for winning and thus causing others to lose. Instead, we are learning that strategic partnerships and creation of manufacturing/ service processes that develop human capabilities and use material resources wisely are needed to position the organization for sustained success in the marketplace. This course will help leaders develop approaches that strategically position their organizations to achieve this success. Theoretically this course will be grounded in Michael Porter’s recent work on “creating shared value.”