Leadership requires a balanced understanding of human behavior and applied managerial skill. This course introduces organizational studies and organizational behavior. It examines the history of the field as well as the critical role that theory and research play in the discipline. Topics include the characteristics of effective leadership and organizational power, different frameworks for leadership and leadership styles, building and managing high-performing diverse teams, managing a diverse and inclusive organization, supporting diverse employees, and effective and ethical managerial decision-making.

In the twenty-first century, businesses are increasingly becoming globalized in a number of ways, including providing goods and services in international markets, relying on supplies from other countries, and outsourcing work. It is critical for leaders and managers to understand the global context of business, become familiar with cultures and societies with a variety of customs and expectations, and understand the economic interdependence of nations. This course introduces major factors (economic, sociocultural, transnational management, strategic planning, human resources, marketing, finance and technological) in the global environment and examines the effects on organizational and managerial practices.

This course gives students an understanding of planning, budgeting, and finance within an organization or business. Managers are responsible for helping an organization understand its financial status, develop strategies to meet goals, and to help earn a profit. This course introduces the language of accounting and finance, how to create an effective budget, how to analyze financial statements to ensure that an organization’s goals are being achieved, and how to make ethical decisions to maintain the financial health of an organization.

This course introduces critical aspects of leadership including power, accountability, and ethics. Theories of ethical reasoning (such as deontological ethics, utilitarianism, and virtue ethics) are examined and applied in various situations. Students examine the legal and moral implications of decisions related to human resources, finances, operations and organizational development. An emphasis is placed on diverse human relationships and ethical dimensions of issues. Students will think critically about ethical systems and leadership theories and apply lessons learned to develop their own philosophy and practices.

The goal of operations strategy in any organization is to achieve consistent delivery of products and services to meet customer needs and the business’s overall plans. The course explains the relationship between operations and other leadership functions and how business processes can be better managed and enhanced for greater efficiency. Topics include strategic and tactical decision-making, quantitative and qualitative analysis, project management, and the role of technology in leading and managing organizations. Students will consider services operations, process analysis, and quality management to translate conceptual learning to real-world situations.

Those leading today’s business and not-for-profit organizations face unprecedented economic uncertainty, technical advances, speed of communication, and flexibility of human capital. These factors result in the need to manage change in order to prevent organizations from losing their organizational capacity and progress. This course is designed to help students understand frameworks for planning organizational change and the processes, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change to achieve a required business outcome. The course incorporates methods to identify, collect, assess, and deploy data to make decisions to effect change as well as manage potential resistance. Students will become proficient in evaluating various types of data and will learn some of the ways qualitative and quantitative data can be used to inform decision-making.