The Master’s in Organizational Leadership is an interdisciplinary degree which builds on your experience as a member of society interacting with a wide variety of institutions to learn how to effectively develop others and accomplish organizational goals. Members of a society conduct their daily lives engaged with their educational, political, cultural, religious, commercial, familial, community and governmental organizations. These organizations require effective and flexible leaders and followers to enable members to adapt to inevitable change and maintain a well-functioning society.
In the M.S. in Organizational Leadership online degree program, you will learn and practice how leaders recognize opportunity and motivate individuals and groups, and how and why followers choose people to lead them. To provide you with a deeper understanding of how leaders and followers accomplish and adapt, you will study the theories and strategies of leadership, conflict negotiation, critical thinking, and ethics and change, as well as managing information and technology, and analyzing human behavior in cultural contexts.
More about the School of Communications and Information Systems
A 2006 study by the Bridgespan Group found that demand for leaders among nonprofits with revenues greater than $250,000 (excluding hospitals and institutions of higher education), will be quite high.
The study found that over the next decade, these organizations will need to attract and develop some 640,000 new senior managers—the equivalent of 2.4 times the number currently employed. If the sector were to experience significant consolidation and lower-than-forecast turnover rates, this number might fall as low as 330,000. On the other hand, given historic trends, the total need could well increase to more than one million. By 2016, these organizations will need almost 80,000 new senior managers per year.
REQUIRED COURSES:
History and Theory of Leadership
Leadership and Ethics
Leadership and Communication
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Knowledge Acquisition and Decision Making
Conflict Resolution
Organizational Leadership Capstone
ELECTIVES:
Legal Issues for Leaders in Organizations
Leadership in Organizations
Leadership and Organizational Change
Group Dynamics and Interpersonal Relationships
Cultural Dynamics and Leadership
And courses from INFS/ COIS Information Systems or Communications
Faculty members in the School of Communications and Information Systems (SCIS), Department of Organizational Leadership, are dedicated to teaching, academic research, and bring their own professional experience to bear on their teaching. As guides and mentors, they inspire students to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their academic pursuits and in their lives. SCIS faculty members’ professional experience and community involvement help students connect what they’re learning in the classroom to the workplace and other organizations to which they belong.