School of Organizational Leadership & Transformation LIOS Masters in Organizational Systems: Leadership & Organization Development Course Descriptions 2013-2014 Courses for: Fall 2013 Entry Cohort Spring 2014 Entry Cohort Leadership and Organization Development professional courses: 27 credits SLO 5200 Professional Consultation 2.5 SLO 5201 Practicum: Consulting Theory in Action 13.0 SLO 5202 Strategic Leadership: Structural Design (B-Corp) 1.0 SLO 5203 Consultation: Executive Coaching Interventions 1.0 SLO 5204 Consultation: Organizational Conflict 0.5 SLO 5205 Leading Change: Organizational Interventions 1.0 SLO 5206 Consultation: Training Interventions 1.0 SLO 5207 Consultation: Facilitation Interventions 0.5 SLO 5208 Organizational Psychology: Cross-Functional Teaming 0.5 SLO 5209 Consultation: Presentation Design and Delivery 0.5 SLO 5210 Operations: Leadership and Management 2.0 SLO 5211 Practitioner Theory Seminar (Oral Exam) 1.0 SLO 5212 Seminar: Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues 1.0 SLO 5220 Mini-Conference: Organizational Systems Coaching 1.5 CORE courses: 21 credits RES 1026L CO Information Competency and Library Use 1.0 SCO 5002 Group Membership 2.0 SCO 5003 Group Development 1.0 SCO 5004 Family of Origin Theory and Practice 1.0 SCO 5005 Introduction to Systems Theory in the Applied Behavioral Sciences 0.75 SCO 5006 Statistics and Research Methodologies 2.5 SCO 5007 Organizational Development 2.0 SCO 5009 Creating Healthy Social Systems 0.75 SCO 5011 Group Leadership 1.5 SCO 5012 Intercultural Intelligence 1.0 SCO 5013 Integrative Learning Lab 1.75 SCO 5014 Developmental Assessment 2.0 SCO 5015 Foundations of Leadership 2.0 SCO 5016 Global Issues Seminar (Elective) 3.0 SCO 5017 Fundamentals of the Coaching Relationship 1.75 Total required credits: 48
ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS: LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATION DEVELOPMENT COURSES SLO 5200 Professional Consultation This course is concurrent with Practicum: Consulting Theory in Action and the associated consulting projects and serves as an adjunct to the student's experience. The focus during this year-long, small group experience is on developing consulting skills, examining legal and ethical issues, exploring themes within the student's consulting work, relationships with other professionals and organizations, and enhancing the student's development as a professional. 2.5 credits. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Students have SLO 5201 Practicum: Consulting Theory in Action as a co-requisite to this course during both first and second years. SLO 5201 Practicum: Consulting Theory in Action This four-semester sequence of group and individual projects provides students field experience as a means to apply key theories for achieving organizational/group transformation. Foundational theories, concepts and methods are introduced that enable students to consult competently within client systems to improve leader, team/group, and organizational effectiveness. Principal among these are Action Research and performance improvement (quality/process optimization) approaches to organization development; and processes and practices influenced by the theories of Kurt Lewin, Mary Beth O'Neill, and Bob Crosby. These methods are used to facilitate active processes of organizational inquiry in ways that enable work teams to identify and solve important problems, with a goal of increasing their collective capacity to achieve key operational outcomes. Stages of Action Research are fully explained, including building relationship with the sponsor(s), setting initial project goals, gathering relevant data, preparing and facilitating data feedback, setting collaborative goals, planning for implementation, and assessing goal attainment. Dilemmas and paradoxes of the consulting process are explored, with emphasis on your self-awareness as you deploy your presence within a client system. Students enhance their awareness of team dynamics by learning to work effectively in consulting teams for real clients under the supervision of faculty. Students follow a written format to document their approach, interventions, client results, personal reflections and learning. 13.0 credits. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Students have SLO 5200 Professional Consultation as a co-requisite to this course during both first and second years. SLO 5202 Strategic Leadership: Structural Design (B-Corp) The theories and skills of forming and implementing an organization's vision, goals, strategies, and structure are foundational to much of the coursework in the LOD specialization. A critical task of leadership is to assess the strategic environment of the organization so that a future direction may be charted that will enable it to achieve significant competitive advantage in the marketplace. Students are taught to develop visions, missions, core values and strategic goals that allow their own leadership intentions to be realized. They implement and operate a BCorp for the majority of their second year. As formal leaders and professional change agents, students also learn to assist their client managers in this essential leadership endeavor. 1. Students are introduced to a specialization vision for their second year in the program. 2. Lecture and discussion on information about mission, core values, vision, and goals, and the ways in which these concepts are central to personal mastery, strategic leadership and organizational effectiveness. Page 2 of 9
3. Students are given the opportunity to reflect upon and develop a statement of vision, mission, core values, articles of incorporation, by-laws, and operating agreements. 4. Students apply theory to cases from their projects or their work situation. 5. Lecture and discussion on the link between strategic leadership and successful change management. 1.0 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of firstyear curriculum and second-year standing as an LOD student. SLO 5203 Consultation: Executive Coaching Interventions An essential skill for moving organizations towards meeting their goals is coaching executives/leaders to increase their effectiveness in working with their teams. In this course the phases of coaching are discussed and practiced, including contracting, assisting executives/leaders in setting goals for business improvement, team effectiveness and personal growth, and preparation of the leader for "live-action" coaching. The importance of identifying systemic patterns of behavior is emphasized throughout all phases of the coaching and consulting process. IFC Core Competencies are integrated into the phases of coaching. 1.0 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5204 Consultation: Organizational Conflict In this highly experiential course, the theory, concepts and skills of conflict resolution are presented and integrated with theories of interpersonal conflict management. Students then serve in the role of third party coach to an interpersonal conflict, receiving coaching and feedback on their performance from faculty, student observers, and from the students working the conflict. 0.5 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5205 Leading Change: Organizational Interventions Students build on the basic concepts, theories and models of change management begun in the Strategic Leadership curriculum (SLO 5202). More advanced concepts of change practices are introduced. These are applied to the Consulting Projects the students are conducting as change agents in organizations. Students are also encouraged to think critically about theories of change as they relate to the students' own emerging notions about healthy functioning in organizations and intervention strategies. Students function as consultants from their B-Corp to explore and practice change management strategies with a real client (the LOD Program). As formal leaders and professional change agents, students learn to assist their consulting clients in this essential leadership endeavor. 1. Hands-on practices and debriefs will include some or all of the following: Conner's (1998) ideas about enhancing organizational and individual change capacity; Bridges' (2004) distinctions between change and transition; Kotter's (1996) model for successful organizational change; and a variety of large-scale, whole systems strategies for rapid change. 2. Experiential activities will involve application to students' Masters Change Projects, their own work venues, to the LOD Program, or other case studies. Students will engage in critical thinking and dialogue about various theorists' notions regarding appropriate organizational diagnosis, design and intervention and begin to formulate their own theory of change. 1.0 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first-year curriculum and second-year standing as a LOD student. Page 3 of 9
SLO 5206 Consultation: Training Interventions Students learn the fundamentals of conducting successful trainings and meetings, including the identification of desired outcomes, the creation of appropriate designs, the delivery of effective presentations, and leading productive meetings. The course is based on utilizing the three classical domains of learning: cognitive (knowledge and understanding), affective (values, feelings and attitudes), and behavioral (skill). The focus of this course is developing training interventions. 1.0 credits. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5207 Consultation: Facilitation Interventions Students learn the fundamentals of conducting successful trainings and meetings, including the identification of desired outcomes, the creation of appropriate designs, the delivery of effective presentations, and leading productive meetings. The course is based on utilizing the three classical domains of learning: cognitive (knowledge and understanding), affective (values, feelings and attitudes), and behavioral (skill). The focus of this course is developing facilitation interventions. 0.5 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5208 Organizational Psychology: Cross -Functional Teaming Students will explore issues related to task team dynamics in work settings, and particularly teams in which multiple functional perspectives make developing a cohesive and wellfunctioning team challenging. The organizational psychology focus is on the application of models and practices from cognitive behavioral therapy and narrative therapy to organizational systems contexts as might arise in crossfunctional teaming situations. Emphasis is given to narrative exploration and reframing, role clarification, decision-making and accountability for cross-functional teams involved in performance improvement, restructuring or product development processes. 0.5 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5209 Consultation: Presentation Design & Delivery Students learn the fundamentals of conducting successful trainings and meetings, including the identification of desired outcomes, the creation of appropriate designs, the delivery of effective presentations, and leading productive meetings. The course is based on utilizing the three classical domains of learning: cognitive (knowledge and understanding), affective (values, feelings and attitudes), and behavioral (skill). The focus of this course is presentation, design, and delivery of proposals, plans, and trainings. 0.5 credit. Course Prerequisites and Corequisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5210 Operations: Leadership and Management This course provides a learning laboratory where the students learn how to cultivate healthy organization systems to optimally return value and support the Bottom-line of organizations (for profit, non-profit or public sectors). The students are required to demonstrate and practice the knowledge and competency required to walk into any group and/or organizational setting and Page 4 of 9
lead the performance of simultaneous personal development, cultural awareness, organizational development, and performance improvement (quality and process optimization). In this course, the complexities and paradoxes of leadership, supervision, and process management are explored. The course begins with an inquiry into each individual student's leadership qualities. A variety of leadership theories are then explored to better assist the student in developing his/her own personal leadership principles. Finally, the experiential learning laboratory provides students with an opportunity to apply principles and theories of leadership and management to test their personal effectiveness as leaders. In order to create fully functioning organizations, students develop appropriate organizational structures, functions, and processes to produce products or deliver services at a profit, while maintaining social and environmental responsibility. 2.0 credits. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5211 Practitioner Theory Seminar (Oral Exam) Students delineate their emerging theory of practice as an applied behavioral scientist and leader or coach/consultant in organizational systems. They further explicate their theory of practice in a seminar with their peers and faculty, whose roles are to critique or expand the theory of the presenting student. Students will participate in a Faculty-led Peer-Review Oral Exam based on their Practitioner Theory Paper, and their reflective essays regarding the Marketplace experience. This exam will assess their Leadership Signature Presence in terms of integrity (congruency), knowledge of LOD concepts and theories, and demonstration of behaviorally specific leadership competencies based on that knowledge. This seminar is considered a capstone event, a time for the student to integrate into a coherent theory of practice, learning from their assigned and recommended reading, their academic and experiential learning at LIOS, and their learning in their Team and Individual consulting projects. 1.0 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first-year curriculum and second-year standing as a LOD student. SLO 5212 Seminar: Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues The focus of this course is on the development of a professional attitude and identity as an Applied Behavior Scientist, Organizational Development Consultant, and a Leader or Coach/Consultant to Organizational Systems. Current legal and ethical issues confronting leaders and Organization Development practitioners are explored. Being an ethical leader and developing and maintaining an ethical and prosperous consulting practice (internal or external to organizations), career development, professional affiliations, and continuing education may also be explored. 1.0 credit. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of first year curriculum and standing as a second-year LOD student. SLO 5220 Mini Conference: Organizational Systems Coaching The course focuses on organizational coaching as distinct from other coaching specializations. The course positions coaching as a central skill for consultants, coaches, managers, leaders, and social change agents in their organizational work. The coaching frameworks of the International Coaching Federation (ICF) are the primary conceptual foundation of this course. Several aspects of organizational coaching are discussed and practiced with a major emphasis on the ICF Core Competencies. The course employs a theory, practice, reflection and feedback structure with multiple opportunities to serve as coach, observer and client. Experiential activities are designed Page 5 of 9
to practice theories presented, to enhance the cognitive integration of the coaching concepts, and to provide immediate feedback on the associated skills. Students participate in the following activities: (a) skill practice, working on real time issues from the workplace; (b) debrief of skill practice in order to learn from other participants and to embed the principles of coaching; and (c) modeling of the coaching process. Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: Successful completion of SCO 5017 Fundamentals of the Coaching Relationship. 1.5 credit CORE COURSES RES 1026L CO Information Competency and Library Use This is a hybrid or blended course, delivered mostly online in the Moodle course management system, and partly face-to-face with the instructor at the residential conferences. Students use online and printed resources to explore and discover different types of materials and sources of information for future research projects and for life-long learning. Students learn and practice finding, citing, evaluating, and annotating online and printed information sources, assemble an annotated bibliography in APA style, and are introduced to a number of online tools. There are no prerequisites. 1.0 credit. SCO 5002 Group Membership This course (first in a series of three: Group Membership, Group Development, Group Leadership) focuses on the development of fundamental skills in effective participation in groups from the member role. With active faculty coaching, students learn the skills required to be interactive group members by participating in a small group learning laboratory based on Lewin's T-Group model. 2.0 credits. SCO 5003 Group Development The focus of this segment is on combining the fundamental role of group member with that of the advanced group member. Students will make informed and skillful interventions in the service of healthy group functioning as the group demonstrates more mature group processes. Using observation, intuition and internal experience, the advanced group members apply group theory to assess and diagnose the group's level of development and the health of its processes while using interpersonal skill to intervene effectively. Through modeling and appropriate use of informal authority, the advanced group member encourages selfawareness and skillful interaction of others, comments on the group's process, its systemic dynamics, including groupas-a-whole interpretations, and identifies polarities and paradoxes inherent in the life of the group. 1.0 credit. SCO 5004 Family of Origin Theory and Practice This course focuses on the development of the applied behavioral science practitioner through the research and review of one's own family of origin. Students write a personal autobiography and construct a three-generation genogram. Students interview parents, siblings, and other family members in order to learn more about themselves, expand their perspectives and appreciate the complexity of the system(s) in which they developed. During the second year of this curriculum segment, students write an updated autobiography based on learning from the previous year. Group and workplace applications of Family of Origin concepts are focused on during year two. Emphasis is placed on the student's identification and resolution of key family of origin issues Page 6 of 9
leading to increased personal authority and professional competence. 1.0 credit. SCO 5005 Introduction to Systems Theory in the Applied Behavioral Sciences This course explores three different approaches to systems theory and ways to apply them within the learning community. This course is the theoretical foundation for understanding and application of systems ideas in all subsequent curricula. Throughout the first year students explore dynamic systems in which they participate, including their families, the learning community, and their larger home communities. In the second year, students apply systems principles in their specialization work as well as continuing the first year explorations. 0.75 credits. SCO 5006 Statistics and Research Methodologies This course provides an overview of basic statistics used in the social sciences, and reviews the principles of empirical investigation and the primary research methods used in the social sciences. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of conducting research are reviewed. Emphasis is given to evaluating, interpreting, and critiquing published research. Empirical research is examined within a larger exploration of epistemology and the development of the critical thinking skills necessary in the evolution of all knowledge. 2.5 credits. SCO 5007 Organizational Development Building on the theories and models covered in Creating Healthy Social Systems, this course enhances the ability of students to apprehend the relative health or dysfunction present in organizations, diagnose what changes will best support healthy and effective functioning, and to utilize their signature presence effectively in influencing those changes from any position within the hierarchy. The overarching framework utilized is the Harrison's Waterline Model which emphasizes examination of each of the following elements as they influence functioning within organizational systems: Organizational structure (goals and roles) Organization/group processes (communication, decision making, problem solving) Interpersonal processes (relationships between individuals) Intrapersonal processes (intrapsychic influences on individual behavior) as they influence functioning within organizational systems. In collaboration with Course SCO5009, Creating Healthy Social Systems, students in this course continue to consider questions they need to answer in writing by the end of the second year in their practitioner theory papers: What is your theory of health in social systems? What are causes of problem formation? What is your theory of change? This becomes the basis of their integrative practice theory prior to graduation. 2.0 credits. SCO 5009 Creating Healthy Social Systems This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of eliciting and sustaining healthy social systems. It seeks to catalyze students in developing their own practitioner theories of healthy functioning in systems. Building on the theories and models covered in Systems Theory in Applied Behavioral Science, this course explores four dominant themes: resiliency, appreciative inquiry, paradoxes and polarities, and sustainability. 0.75 credits. Page 7 of 9
SCO 5011 Group Leadership This course presents major theories of group leadership. Students are placed in the leader role to develop skills in guiding groups through appropriate stages of development in an intensive small group learning laboratory based on Lewin's T-Group model. 1.5 credits. SCO 5012 Intercultural Intelligence The purpose of this course is to help students understand the perspective that difference is necessary to systemic flexibility and learn to work skillfully with multiple differences. Students develop the following: an operational knowledge of culture as a concept and how it shapes and influences human perception and behavior in general; awareness of their own cultural identity; and basic practitioner skills in intercultural communication.. Further, students become aware of and apply their knowledge and skills to the dynamics of inequality in systems. 1.0 credit. SCO 5013 Integrative Learning Lab Integrative Group I is a process group which is designed as an experiential learning lab for skills development in both group membership and group leadership. First year students focus on skills of self awareness and self management as well as curiosity and inquiry into the other's experience. Students practice leadership from the member position as they develop skills of personal authority, capacity to engage with conflict and difference, and a capacity to hold multiples realities and a diversity of experience. Integrative Learning Lab II Integrative Group II is a course which is designed as an experiential learning lab for skills development in both group membership and group leadership. Second year students focus on advanced membership skills and leading from the positions of leader and member. The skills which are developed include facilitation and coaching, identification of group patterns and dynamics, and intervention at various levels of group. Students develop their personal authority and capacity to influence as well as enhance the functioning and health of the group. 1.75 credits. SCO 5014 Developmental Assessment This course includes three formal integrative assessments during the two years. Self-assessment papers are written by each student reviewing both technical and adaptive work to date. Students review and evaluate demonstrations of learning within their course of study, including curriculum participation in experiential designs and practicum, papers, projects, internships. Students also evaluate their demonstration of leadership and personal authority as well as contributions to the development of the learning community. Students also provide similar assessment and feedback to peers. 2.0 credits. SCO 5015 Foundations of Leadership The purpose of this course is to provide a contextual overview that focuses is on leadership as a discipline and as an art of relationship and influence. The course design is experiential and integrative, building on key knowledge, skills, and competencies in the CORE curriculum over the full two years of the degree program. This course takes the position that Leadership is an evolutionary function in living systems, the complement to the stabilizing function, which can be thought of as management. While we have tended to ascribe these functions to specific roles, a system's sustainability is dependent upon all members of the system contributing to these functions. In other words, the expression of these functions is manifested in individual human Page 8 of 9
behaviors and needs to be spread across the system rather than isolated within a role or title. The course uses the Adaptive Leadership framework, which emphasizes the importance of learning in response to challenges to the system and the ability to both be in and reflect upon the emergent moment. The objective of this course is the development of the student's Signature Presence, which we consider to be the intersection of the individual's unique gifts and the needs of the social systems they seek to serve. The development of this Signature Presence emphasizes the student's personal voice and agency, essential capacities if the individual is to speak up and stand for the health of the system. As part of this course, students will take part in a Writing Process Seminar, delivered in RC1, intended to hone their writing skills in order to enhance their capacity to effectively communicate their Signature Presence. 2.0 credits SCO 5016 Global Issues Seminar (Elective) Using a social media platform, this elective course provides an opportunity to explore and engage in the study of international events, historical and current issues, and human behavior in our global society. This course explores the complex development of social and political issues in the global context and the role that culture plays in their formation, maintenance, and possible resolution. The topics will deal with cultural groups, organizations, and institutions. This course involves critical thinking specifically in the development of awareness of the relationship between individuals, cultural groups and political challenges, and the interface between those dealing with issues. The final project may include the presentation of a project via social media and the option of travel to a particular country to explore and discuss issues with representatives of social, political, and cultural groups. 3.0 credits SCO 5017 Fundamentals of the Coaching Relationship This course focuses on humanistic methods of helping as applied to the coaching relationship as well as models of understanding and managing conflicts. Students participate in faculty supervised and coached activities designed to develop practitioner skills essential to both creating and maintaining an effective coaching relationship as well as effectively engaging in and exploring conflicts. 1.75 credits Page 9 of 9