Curriculum: Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Leadership

This course utilizes an integrated approach to research methods and statistics that underpin the scientific study of psychology. Using a problem-based approach to learning, this course will introduce the student to basic research methods, designs, and statistics commonly used and reported within psychology. Further, through a series of guided lab experiences, this course will provide students with the opportunity to conduct, interpret, and report results of simple psychological studies using current and accepted practices and approaches within the discipline.

The Foundations of Leadership course is designed to help students explore the concept of leadership as a discipline that studies the individual, group, organizational, and societal factors that impact how effective leaders develop and how various traits and behaviors shape multi-level outcomes. The course provides a general introduction to historical and current theories of leadership, exploring how each theoretical approach can be applied in real-world organizations. Students engage in a variety of learning activities in order to assess and develop their own leadership knowledge and abilities. The fundamental premise of the course is that leadership requires mastery of multiple practices and skills and is enhanced by applying knowledge gained from the research and study of leadership.

This course is designed to introduce students to the practice of leadership. Students will engage in a variety of individual- and team-based experiential activities in order to apply the theories and concepts learned about leadership in the Organizational Leadership foundation courses. These activities will also provide students with opportunities to assess and develop their own leadership knowledge and abilities. The fundamental premise of the course is that leadership requires mastery of multiple practices and skills. This can only be accomplished through a better understanding of self and others.

This course readies students for the kinds and purposes of writing they will do as they advance in their business careers. Good writing is a means to effective management and profitable customer relations. In studying the theory and practice of writing in the business environment, students will develop strategies for adjusting content, style, design, and delivery method to different rhetorical contexts. This course often operates as a writing intensive workshop where student participation is necessary and vital. This course is not a review of basic composition or grammar skills, although students will learn techniques for successful revising and editing.

This course explores the attitudes and behaviors of individuals and groups in organization in order to learn how to effectively lead and manage complex organizations. Leaders must possess a good understanding of human behavior, power and authority, organizational design, managing organizational culture and change, teamwork and collaboration, organizational effectiveness measurements, and decision making, motivation, and leadership styles. In addition, students will learn how organizations can be structured more effectively and how events in their environments affect these organizations. The course will address five areas essential for leadership, organizational success, and personal achievement: Writing, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Organizing, and Application.

The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with different types of program evaluation, including needs assessment, formative research, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes, impact assessment, and cost analysis. Students gain practical experience through a series of exercises involving the design of a conceptual framework, development of indicators, analysis of computerized service statistics, and development of an evaluation plan to measure impact. Covers experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental study designs, including the strengths and limitations of each.

The Capstone course is designed to be the culmination of students' undergraduate degree program. It provides an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned in either an internship experience or through the development of a community- or school-based service project. Students work closely with the Organizational Leadership faculty member overseeing the course to develop a detailed learning contract that specifies how the student will demonstrate leadership competencies while serving in an approved leadership role. At the end of the term, students synthesize and report their experiences as they relate to the theoretical foundations of leadership being studied as well as to university's baccalaureate competencies.

The intent of this course is to provide an introduction and general discussion of the meaning of ethics and how it relates to organizations in for-profit, community, and non-profit groups. We will discuss applicable laws and examine real-world ethical situations in order to learn how to build an ethical organization. Specifically, we will focus on the role of leaders and professionals in this endeavor and how to conduct an ethical audit in modern times.

Organizational leaders are often called to play strategic roles in the business world, which can be problematic if one is unfamiliar with the nuisances of organizations. The course seeks to make future organization leaders familiar with crucial functional areas of organizations (accounting, finance, and marketing, etc.) for them to become more effective organizational contributors and play a wider strategic role, which includes data interpretation, and digital and information systems skills. Key concerns of each functional area, important concepts in each function, application of concepts, and how organizational leaders can help other functions achieve their missions will be covered.

In this course, students will become familiar with basic digital skills needed for successful participation in the workplace of the future. Studies and business leaders attest that skills the College of Arts & Sciences majors develop—creativity, persuasion, collaboration, curiosity, and empathy—are crucial for the workplace today and in the future. This course is designed to complement these transferable soft skills with the hard skills of basic data analysis and reasoning using data. These skills provide a pathway to inquiry, innovation, and careers by offering students digital skills and a foundational digital literacy. Through this combination, students will be prepared for a future of multiple careers as well as for finding employment immediately after graduation. We assume no prior experience with digital methods. Students will use Microsoft Excel (for tabular data manipulation), Tableau (for visualizing tabular data), Sublime Text Editor (for understanding markup languages), and Jupyter Notebook (for basic computer syntax).

This course focuses on the legal framework for employer-employee relations. It includes legislation and court decisions governing discrimination in hiring, advancement and termination, sexual harassment, affirmative action, wrongful discharge, breach of employment contracts, and other aspects of Human Resource Management (HRM).

This course will examine theories about the ways that organizations function and adapt to the demands of our rapidly changing world. Leaders need to understand the patterns and structures practiced by organizations used to solve problems, maximize efficiency and productivity, achieve organizational goals, and address stakeholder expectations. With this information, leaders design and execute plans to achieve maximum organizational effectiveness.

Organizational leaders are often called to play strategic roles in the business world, which can be problematic if one is unfamiliar with the nuisances of organizations. The course focuses on the application of the material learned in Fundamentals of Organizations (ORGL2060). In this class, students will practice with the key documents and concept utilized in 2060 to provide them hands on experience with the crucial functional areas of organizations (accounting, finance, and marketing, etc.) for them to become more effective organizational contributors and play a wider strategic role. The application of key organizational concerns will be utilized to provide greater context and experience to future organizational leaders that will help other functions achieve their missions will be covered (data interpretation, information systems and digital skills).

Conflict is an inevitable part of life. Rather than fear and avoid it, this course is designed to help students better understand, manage and diffuse it. The course includes applied experiences; students will be actively involved in practicing conflict resolution skills through discussions, exercises, role plays and other similar activities. Students will gain knowledge and skills in key areas to better understand conflict: power, interests, negotiation and medication will be covered. Upon successful completion of this course, students will have the interpersonal skills required to be more effective negotiators and to better mediate disputes in environments where conflict exists.

This course continues the integrated approach to research methods and statistics from Research Methods and Statistics I, focusing explicitly on I/O (industrial and organizational) psychology. This course will cover research ethics, research designs and statistical concepts within the area of I/O psychology, with a problem-based approach to learning. In addition to lectures, students will participate in lab experiences during which they will continue working with statistical software and data management. By the end of this course, students should be able to design a complex research study, perform the correct statistical analyses for that study, and communicate the findings in an appropriate APA-style paper.

This course focuses on the role training and development plays in helping companies meet the challenges of new and better work designs, higher customer expectations, and the need to develop into a high-performance learning organization.

Presently, more than fifty percent of the US workforce consists of minorities, women, and immigrants. Organizational leaders are confronted with the challenge of managing a workforce that is increasingly diverse relative to race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability, sexual preference and age. Organizations have also realized that highly competent associates come from a variety of cultural and group identities. It is a fundamental business fact that organizations that value the talents of a diverse workforce will have a competitive advantage in the marketplace. The intent of this course is to increase one's awareness of issues of diversity and differences in order to work more effectively and ethically with a variety of populations defined by gender, class, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, age, and sexual orientation. The course will introduce students to a historical, economic, political, personal and social framework for understanding culture and diversity in a social and workplace environment via readings, cases, and exercises designed to clarify the complexity of managing and working in a changing and increasingly diverse workplace.

This course examines conceptual frameworks for understanding and increasing individual and team performance in organizations, including practical applications of related concepts.

The Leadership Practicum (OLHR4098) is designed for undergraduate students seeking to complement their major area of study with practical experience serving in a leadership role. The Practicum requires students to engage in an approved experience (e.g., an internship, community service engagement, school-related project) in which they put their leadership knowledge and skills into practice and then reflect on this experience through a series of structured learning modules. This iteration between "doing" and "reflecting" will enable students to develop a better understanding of their leadership skills, including strengths that they may leverage and weak areas that they may develop to enhance their leadership effectiveness. Students can earn up to 3 credit hours for the Practicum, depending upon the number of hours engaged in the leadership role. Enrollment in the course requires pre-approval from the student's faculty advisor.