Courses

Offered: Fall Quarter 2020

Contemporary workplaces are complex and continually evolving. In order to be effective leaders, we must understand the factors that contribute to organizational complexity. This course provides an overview of classical and emerging perspectives regarding organizational theory. Topics include organizational culture, structure, and values. In this course, you will gain the foundational skills needed to diagnose, evaluate, and propose solutions to improve organizational health and effectiveness.

The ability to communicate effectively is vital to professional success. Learn effective communication behaviors and skills for contemporary organizations. Explore the dimensions of organizational communication, focusing on topics that include: listening, non-verbal communication, relational development, trust building, and values. Students engage in interactive exercises and the practical application of theory in written, oral and presentational forms.

Discover how a leader’s decision-making affects the financial health and long-term success of organizations. In this course, you will learn how to read balance sheets and financial statements, and gain a broad understanding of the basic concepts and rules of financial reporting for organizations. Course topics include audits, cash flow, debt versus equity, and profit and loss. Students will sharpen their financial acumen by examining real-world annual reports and case studies.

Contemporary organizations require individuals to collaborate in teams. The ability to lead such teams effectively is a prized skill and vital to both organizational and personal success. In this course, you will learn how to identify and develop effective individual and team behaviors, apply contemporary research on groups, leading teams, and team development to individual and collaborative team activities, and engage in self-reflection and team role-playing exercises that will develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

Offered: Spring Quarter 2021

Today’s organizations must constantly adapt to changes in economic, technological, regulatory, and business environments. In this course, you will explore the factors that drive organizational change, focusing on such topics as change in organizational culture and structure, change communication, and change resistance. Students will analyze, evaluate, and apply change models to real-world organizational change and development initiatives. Through individual and team exercises, examine why employees resist change and how successful leaders gain commitment and overcome barriers to change.

Offered: Spring Quarter 2021

Organizational leaders must be sensitive to and adept at managing the issues and opportunities that arise from difference and diversity. In this course, students will explore workplace diversity topics such as age, abilities, beliefs, ethnicity, gender, race, and sexual orientation, and learn how workplace diversity can provide organizations with opportunities for greater creativity, innovation, and inclusion. Students will analyze theoretical and real-world workplace scenarios that showcase the knowledge and skills leaders need to promote and maintain a diverse and healthy organizational culture.

Managing human resources is critical to the long-term health of any organization. In this course, students will gain an understanding of the human resources function in an organization through an examination of workforce and employment issues, including compensation and performance appraisal systems, hiring and training processes, equal employment opportunities, job design and analysis, and the role of grievance processes.

Effective leaders must understand how business and industry regulations affect the operations of contemporary organizations. Through an exploration of legal topics related to profit/nonprofit and public/private sector enterprises, you will gain a foundational understanding of organizational law. Course topics include laws governing torts, contracts, litigation, arbitration, compensation, and consumer protection. You will examine case studies and evaluate real-life situations often faced by organizational leaders.

In this capstone course, you will reflect upon and integrate the practical organizational and leadership skills you have learned throughout the program and apply them to the real world, developing a multi-faceted plan to deal with a significant organizational problem. The plan will offer solutions to the practical, ethical, and social justice aspects of the issue. This course is a hybrid course, with most course content delivered online along with face-to-face evening classes every two weeks.