Organizational Leadership Graduate Courses

Master's in Organizational Leadership Curriculum

The graduate MSOL curriculum is designed to help you obtain the knowledge and skill-set to advance in your career through a leadership or management position. Our program is made up of 30 credits and can be completed part-time in as few as 20 months.

With flexibility in mind, our Organizational Leadership program classes are all available fully online or in a hybrid format that combines the freedom of online learning with face-to-face interaction in a classroom setting.

MSOL Program curriculum:

OL 500	Foundations of Leadership This course explores leadership across organizational entities of business, government and non-profits where management and supervision intersect. Topics also include problem-solving, conflict resolution, leadership styles, cross-cultural and cross-generational challenges and stakeholder engagement. This exploration engages the learner in the ethical expectations of leadership and the practice of reflection.	3
OL 510	Leadership Practices in Organizational Communications This course focuses on the persuasive techniques and strategies for effective communication to internal and external stakeholders by leadership. Case studies are used to examine communication successes and failures. The role of ethics in communications is integrated as part of the leaders’ understanding and practice of sharing information with stakeholders.	3
OL 520	Data-Driven Decision-Making for Executives This course provides a foundation for data driven decision-making practices for managers at the mid-level and strategic apex of the organization. The use of metrics to guide decision-making and improve performance is central to the learner experience. Essential measurement tools and resources are explored, such as a balanced scorecard.	3
OL 540	Talent and Performance Management More than an evaluation training piece, participants in this course explore and use relevant strategies to develop their workforce from onboarding through career development planning. Strategies around efficiencies incorporate previous learning to create productive workplaces and identify future talent for development within the organization. Talent development through coaching, mentoring, and shadowing are among the strategies explored.	3
OL 650	Sustainability of Innovation and Strategic Advantage This course develops the requisite skills for understanding and implementing systemic planning within a variety of organizations. Strategic goal setting, mission driven plans, managing constrained resources, and monitoring and modifying strategic plans in a dynamic environment are emphasized for the sustainability of innovation and keeping the organization at a strategic advantage.	3
OL 660	Leading Organizational Change Participants learn the art and science of leading change within an organization to ensure success in the change process. The dynamics and effects of change on the workforce are explored and then participants develop change plans for an organization to ensure the building blocks of successful change are complete and implemented.	3
OL 695	Leadership Capstone Students have the option of a leadership research project integrating the leadership competencies learned and apply them to a case study or simulation; OR, students may engage in a group or individual leadership consultancy project with an external organization where a real leadership issue is present and needs to be addressed through the lens of prior learning and leadership best practices. Participants work closely with a faculty advisor for either course project. This is a 15-week course. (Prerequisite: Satisfactory completion of Comprehensive Exam).	3

Electives (Choose 2) - 6 credits

OL 525	Special Topics in Leadership This course explores current leadership issues on the forefront of organizations given the present socio-economic status of the environment. Participants also engage in the presentation of key issues for stakeholders, including an understanding of followership, human resource obligations and practices, innovative management strategies, leading project managers and the business of leadership concerning finances and culture.	3
OL 535	Public Sector Leadership and Community-Based Change This course looks at the challenges and opportunities of public sector leadership. Participants examine the chief executive’s role as a policy maker dealing with other community leaders and the media; discipline and ethical conduct; and leading in unionized and non-unionized environments. Critical leadership competencies are called upon to influence community-based change.	3
OL 620	Negotiating & Conflict Response This course focuses on exposing students to negotiation and conflict response. Students practice negotiating on a range of topics, including negotiating in difficult situations. Through the use of readings, discussions and simulations, students develop an appreciation of conflict dynamics and the art and science of negotiation. Though the course emphasizes both theoretical and practice, the reflective elements of how this impacts leadership are integrated into a true examination of the student’s relationship to conflict and negotiation.	3
OL 655	Operations Management Across Organizations An overview of operations management is followed by an examination of the role and responsibilities of organizational leaders concerning the creation and delivery of goods and services to stakeholders. An assessment of how communication and decisions impact the operations of essential services across organizations is included.	3

Directed Electives (Choose 1) - 3 credits

OL 665	Applied Research Skills for Organizational Leaders This course provides students with basic competency using quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods commonly found in the workplace. The course thereby offers the student the opportunity to study research methodology as it relates to the needs and goals of the organization. Fundamental statistics are covered. Students apply research methods to work-related problems using statistical software, and they learn to make accurate interpretations of data, as well as to recognize specious ones or poor methodology/results.	3
OL 675	Leadership Consulting and Coaching/Mentoring This course examines in-depth the consulting relationship and the consulting process. Students review the roles and responsibilities of consultants who work internally and externally for organizations of all kinds. They study the key aspects of consulting, including relationship-building, contracting, data gathering, problem diagnosis, resistance, and the creation of project deliverables. Various models for the consulting process are presented and applied to several business cases. This course examines many of the challenges a consultant faces—from conceptualizing client problems to showing your clients how to manage and lead change, to improving relationships between departments, to goal-setting and planning. The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of the process of organizational consultation. The course focuses on providing the professional with a philosophy, a process, and evaluative criteria for determining the effectiveness of the consulting intervention that he or she provides. The focus is on developing a problem-centered approach to intervening in organizations that minimizes reliance on programmed techniques and maximize collaborative innovation and learning between client and consultant.	3

Total Credits:

30

Up to 6 graduate-level credits can be transferred into the program from an accredited graduate institution.

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