Organizational Leadership Curriculum

LDG 510 Foundations of Organizational Leadership (3)
This course is a comprehensive introduction that establishes a foundational knowledge of the principles and concepts of organization leadership. It is designed to examine leadership theory and practical application in a variety of organizational environments. Focus will be on the practical and theoretical leadership principles as they affect the individual, the team, and the organization. Students will also examine historical and contemporary leadership practices.

LDG 520 Principles of Research Methods (3)
This course surveys a broad range of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in order to prepare students for application of these methods to a variety of research questions. Topics include an overview of the research process, developing problem statements, framing research questions, conducting a literature review and plagiarism.

LDG 530 Ethical Leadership
In this course, students begin to develop an understanding of the theories, practices, and ethics of leadership. Students assess their own leadership philosophy and then analyze the relationship between their leadership philosophy and selected theories of leadership. This course will also examine how leaders can promote ethical behavior in the work environment. Students will evaluate the process of prioritizing moral values for the workplace and ensuring behaviors are aligned with those values. Students will analyze case studies and review for ethical decision-making process. Students will examine their own ethical values and determine their own position as ethical leaders. 

LDG 540, 580, 630 Integrative Research I, II, III (6)
A requirement for the MS students is to complete a culminating experience. The integrative research project provides the opportunity for students to integrate their academic learning with practical knowledge and experience in a professional work environment. The idea of the integrative research project requirement is to reflect back on the courses students have taken in the master level program and think about how they interrelate and can be applied to a practical business experience. Students should now have a better idea of the big picture of a business system and the integrative nature of all the components. The culminating experience will give students an opportunity to practice in a more real world setting in relation to what they have learned in an academic environment.

LDG 550 Organizational Communication and Leadership (3)
This course will provide students with a communication-based perspective of organizational leadership. It will offer students new insights, expose them to different viewpoints and issues and build on what they have learned about organizational communication and leadership through their previous professional experiences and other courses and degree program they have undertaken. The course places particular emphasis on rich bodies of scholarship and thinking that have developed within the communication field, but draws from other academic disciplines as well. Students will also study how communication differs from leader-member exchange and mass-communication of charismatic leaders and large group interaction. Students will evaluate the leadership process and review the ramifications of internal and external communication factors. Students will master the art of persuasion and ably resolve conflicts among people. This is a course that will provide students with opportunities to sharpen their critical thinking, further develop their communication skills and learn practical concepts and principles that can be applied to their current or future field, areas of interest, organizational context or professional roles.

LDG 560 Global Leadership and Diversity (3)
This course provides an understanding of global issues, cross-cultural concepts focusing on people groups, values, cultures and how to build teams of diverse people while respecting local values and maintaining unity of focus and accomplishment. Course focuses on understanding and respecting diversity and how to adapt an organization’s best practices to local customs and culture.

LDG 570 Organizational Culture and Team Building (3)
Students explore the psychological contract between leader and follower that take many forms between two people or between the leader and small groups. Students study group formation and group development as well as the intricacies of coaching, and mentoring. Students study organizational behavior and explore how organizational behavior concepts affect leadership effectiveness and transformation. Students will examine how individuals fit together into groups and teams. Finally, students will discuss organizational culture and structure, and examine how these concepts can influence behavior in the organization. This class will require students to apply communication teamwork, critical thinking, and information synthesis skills in many different ways.

LDG 600 Transformational Leadership (3)
Students will examine the theory, research and practice of Transformational Leadership. The student will study the concepts of trust, vision, empowerment and ethics in the organizational setting. This course will introduce the importance of communication and critical thinking skills. Exercises throughout the course will allow the learners to recognize that assumptions undergird all action and behavior.

LDG 610 Organizational Redesign and Innovation (3)
This course examines the role of leaders in adapting to technological change and influencing members of an organization to accept it. Technology is one aspect of the accelerating change that leaders must deal with. Leadership responsibilities in organizations will increasingly influence, and be influenced by technology. This course is designed to provide an understanding of the technology in the workplace and its global ramifications. The focus of the course is not on specific technologies or applications. Students need to understand how technology works and how it can be implemented in their own organizations to maximize effective communication and enhance productivity. The course is intended to build upon the content of nearly every other course in the Master’s program in Organizational Leadership. Technology can impact every discipline, but has special implications for leadership and organizational change. Cases explore the introduction of new technologies in different industries and organizational contexts.

LDG 620 Strategic Planning and Implementation (3)
Students study the leader’s role in organizational change – in both creating and preventing change as well as determining the organization’s readiness for change. Students explore the reasons for resistance to change and strategies for coping with resistance. Finally, students look at models of strategic leadership in order to understand the planning involved in an organization’s direction. Case studies will show how strategy is developed and implemented in real world situations.