Master of Science in Management and Leadership

Courses

Curriculum Overview

Course	Units
Leadership and Self (opening integrative workshop)	1 unit
Behavior in Organizations	4 units
Personal and Leadership Development Workshop (residential)	1 unit
Leadership and Ethics	2 units
Advanced Principles of Organizations and Leadership	4 units
Leadership of Teams (second integrative workshop)	2 units
Business Negotiation and the Resolution of Conflict	4 units
Building and Managing Effective Teams	2 units
Organizational Dynamics and Managing Change	4 units
Creativity and Innovation for Leadership	4 units
Information and Process Systems	4 units
Cross-Cultural Management - OR - Global Enterprise Management	2 units 2 units
Leadership Through Systems Capstone Project (third integrative workshop)	2 units

Note:  Courses successfully completed in the M.S. in Management and Leadership can be applied to obtain up to 21 units of course waivers for the Fully Employed MBA program.

Course Descriptions

OTMT 650a: Leadership and Self (1 unit)

In this opening integrative workshop the student must design, present and initiate an individual leadership learning contract. The course includes conceptual and experiential approaches to self-awareness and self-assessment.  Anchor groups comprised of students with similar learning objectives are formed, and these anchor groups complete the two-term project together (see MSML 605b and 605c).

BSCI 651: Behavior in Organizations (4 units)

Students learn to apply the behavioral sciences to management issues through integration of conceptual and experiential approaches to self-awareness, perception, communication, motivation, productivity, group behavior processes, leadership, organizational change, diversity, ethical issues, career planning, and the management of personal and organizational stress. Development of oral and written communication skills is stressed in this course. In addition to regular class sessions, a required personal and leadership development workshop, MSML 650, assists students in attaining an accurate understanding of their patterns of communicating and relating to others. Students must complete the workshop in order to continue in this course.

BSCI 650: Personal and Leadership Development Workshop (1 unit)

This workshop orients students to the MSML program. Each student receives guidance on ethical behavior and personal career development and learns to form effective business teams. This development workshop is taken in conjunction with MSML 651, Behavior in Organizations and has a mandatory two-night hotel stay.

BSCI 635: Leadership and Ethics (2 units)

This course will provide a foundation for the art of value clarification and responsible leadership within organizations and society. Students will learn the roots and values of ethical expression as a lifestyle.  By experiencing and working through scenarios and case studies, learners will isolate the ethical issues, both pro and con, and propose viable alternatives consistent with ethical and moral values.

OTMT 670: Advanced Principles of Organizations and Leadership (4 units)

This course examines the interactions among human resources, technologies, organization design, external forces, and management practices from a macro organization perspective. Study concentrates on organizations as systems and managerial, technical, structural, and cultural subsystems as they relate to the broader environment. The course also examines the concepts of system design, work design, and management theory.

LEGL 684: Business Negotiation and the Resolution of Conflict (4 units)

This course addresses the dynamics of conflict; including techniques for its avoidance as well as alternative avenues of resolution should it occur. Communication and decision making will be studied, with attention to various methods of resolving disputes other than traditional litigation. Students will identify useful negotiation and conflict-avoidance procedures and implement them in practical exercises. Class discussion, simulation, role playing, and research methods will be used as part of understanding how the various procedures apply. Students will negotiate, mediate, arbitrate, and argue issues in a variety of circumstances including the litigation environment.

BSCI 617: Building & Managing Effective Teams (2 units)

The focus of this course is on effective team building. Models of the ingredients and processes required to create powerful teams are examined. Personal values and motivational patterns are related to team leadership. Interpersonal issues such as handling conflict and stress are explored. The concepts of corporate culture and organizational change are introduced in the context of team building.

OTMT 672: Organizational Dynamics and Managing Change (4 units)

Contemporary organizations exist in social, political, and economic environments that change rapidly and unpredictably. This course deals with how to manage changes by looking at strategy, organization design and processes, and multi-organizational systems. Theories and practice of change management, which deal with the individual, group, intergroup, and organizational levels, are discussed. Methods for diagnosing organizations and designing interventions that will increase an organization’s effectiveness are explored. Specific topics include traditional and contemporary approaches to change management, organization learning, consulting skills, and organization development.

OTMT 678: Creativity and Innovation for Leadership (4 units)

Business leaders must respond to such contemporary realities as the information explosion, intense competition, accelerated social and technological change, fresh expectations from new generations, and ever-higher customer demands. Therefore, contemporary leaders must be more and more creative and innovative. This course focuses on imagination and invention ("creativity") and on the productive results of such processes ("innovation"). To enhance business problem solving and effective leadership, students will integrate a dozen linear methods with a dozen nonlinear, imaginative tools.

OTMT 650b: Leadership of Teams (2 units)

Leadership, group and systems are explored through theoretical and experiential approaches to developing team capacities. Topics include systems alignment, feedback, interdependencies, chaos and complexity, archetypal patterns and self-organizing systems. The class provides the foundation for designing and implementing the "Education to Community" (E2C) Service Project and presenting interim results. The student revisits his or her learning contract and makes appropriate modifications.

ISTM 654: Information and Process Systems (4 units)

Modern information business processes must make efficient use of resources, be effective in meeting growing consumer demands, and be readily adaptable to changes in the environment. This course examines production processes and service delivery processes, their different information requirements, and the critical role of information systems in supporting them. It explores how businesses are applying different information technologies to improve the vital functions of information gathering, information processing, and information sharing. The application of IT to automate, streamline, reengineer, and integrate business processes enables advances such as mass customization, quality management, supply chain management, and knowledge management. Both the potential challenges and the potential benefits of developing effective processes and systems will be emphasized.

OTMT 671: Cross-Cultural Management (2 units)

This course explores cultural influences on organizations and on the people working within them. Emphasis is placed on learning how to "learn culture" using methods for scanning the cultural assumptions of groups; bringing personally held cultural assumptions to consciousness; gaining exposure to the cultures of a variety of different regions, nations, and groups and considering their organizational and managerial implications; and facilitating communication and cooperation across cultures. Personal and managerial skills are developed to enhance performance in multicultural environments and on transpatriate assignment.

OTMT 650c: Leadership through Systems (2 units)

The E2C Service Project is completed and presented. Each student completes a reflective capstone paper that includes an analysis and evaluation of the E2C Service Project, integrating and applying theories, frameworks and learning from across the program. Students also present evidence of completion of their individual learning contracts, and a personal and professional leadership development plan in which core values, personal mission and strategic action plans are articulated.