Course Descriptions - Organizational Leadership Graduate Program
MBA 560 Stewardship, Innovation, and Social Entrepreneurship (3 SH)
Organizations, and people who manage them, shape our world. Those who understand and master innovation, stewardship and social entrepreneurship increase their effectiveness as civic leaders and as leaders in their own chosen field. This multidisciplinary theory and practice course provides students with a deeper appreciation for how we as individuals can make a difference as organizational stewards in co-creating the future for ourselves and for others.
MOL 541-542 Mentorship Program (2 SH)
Students will be paired with mentors from the business community to meet at least every other month during each semester. The pairs will be provided with questions to guide their discussions, but pairs are encouraged to discuss any leadership-related topic that students are experiencing at work or with regard to the program material. Students will collaborate with their mentors to develop a final project that summarizes their mentoring experience, or an aspect of the experience
MOL 600 DEIB: Org. Culture, Collaboration, & Community (3 SH)
As modern workplace structures move increasingly in the direction of diverse and inter-disciplinary teams, a greater focus on DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) has moved to the forefront of organizational dialogue and is essential to the efficacy of organizational leaders. Students will enhance their skills in working collaboratively with others both within the organization and in the broader community to accomplish shared goals. Key course concepts include effective non-violent communication, team formation and development, appreciating and navigating differences, equitable and inclusive practices and policies, building belonging, well-being, and resilience, appreciative inquiry, interest-based negotiation, neuroscience for leaders, and trauma-informed organizational interventions. These critical topics will be explored through the lens of cultivating healthy organizational cultures, supporting constructive collaboration, and creating opportunities for connected communities that promote the common good.
MOL 610 Data Analytics for Strategic Decision-making (3 SH)
Data-driven decision-making is a key activity of contemporary leadership. In this course, students will learn quantitative and qualitative methods for collecting, analyzing, and applying data for strategic decision-making in organizational settings. They will be introduced to principles of organizational assessment and how to use data to drive organizational performance. A hands-on approach will be used for the class project to give students functional experience in data management and interpretation.
MOL 620 Transformative Leadership in Dynamic Contexts (3 SH)
This course explores the newest dimensions and challenges of leadership that strengthen and extend leadership skills through practice in rapidly changing and complex, diverse, multi- generational, multi-cultural and multi-dimensional systems, such as health care, government, education, non-governmental organizations and multi-national for-profit organizations.
MOL 681 Leading in Cross-cultural Contexts (3 SH)
This course introduces core concepts of interacting within cross-cultural contexts through a leadership lens. Students learn to assess cultural dimensions and practice sensitivity to diverse cultural norms while exploring their own cultural lens and location. Through a series of guided field experiences that students can complete in their own geographic location and/or through online accessible resources, they will develop an appreciation and understanding for people and narratives beyond their own cultural
standpoint. Note: This course serves as an alternate to MBA 680 for students who are unable to travel and can be completed as a course or directed study depending on enrollment.
OR
MBA 680 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 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 course is designed as a capstone course, even though it is scheduled midway 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.
OLS 510 Leadership and Management for the Common Good (3 SH)
Students will study contemporary and forecasted societal stresses—from community level to global—and learn of the critical role of organizations in both contributing toward, and helping to mitigate, these stresses broadly classified as ecological, social, and economic. Students will then learn a broad range of organizational leadership and management theories, styles, and practices 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.
OLS 515 Introduction to Leadership Studies (3 SH)
The course is an overview of various leadership theories, examining models of leadership, philosophies of leadership and different leadership styles. The advantages and disadvantages of various approaches will be studied.
OLS 530 Organizational Behavior (3 SH)
All organizations are organic, interconnected systems that take on a life of their own regardless of the individuals that occupy various roles in the system. Leaders need to understand their organizational systems and the behavior of those systems if they hope to effectively lead or change them. This course will explore organizational behavior and organizational development from a systems perspective, including concepts of change and conflict. It will rely heavily on case studies and student participation.
OLS 540 Financial Literacy for Managers (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, breakeven 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.
OLS 560 Leadership Seminar (3 SH)
This course provides students with exposure to writings (both contemporary and classical) that address a wide variety of issues in leadership. The primary aim of the course is to offer students opportunities to engage in thought provoking and critical discussion of leadership issues.
OLS 665 Project Management (3 SH)
Most organizations manage their work and accomplish their missions through a multitude of projects. Organizational success takes effective management skills to not only manage individual projects but also direct the web of complex programs of multiple, interrelated projects, skillfully working with diverse stakeholders, demanding deadlines, and available resources. Focusing on the promotion of leadership for the common good as a project manager adds another level of complexity.
Course participants will improve their capacity to balance the art and science of managing projects by building technical competencies, adopting practices of leadership and self-management, and focusing on leadership for the common good competencies.
During the last full class period each student will be expected to present their project plan to the class Presentations will likely be time-limited and as such will focus on knowledge of the material and delivery of the “elevator pitch” more than on the depth of plan presented.