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Student Handbook: Leadership & Organization Development Course Descriptions

Students in the Leadership & Organization Development track complete these courses in addition to the Core Track courses to fulfill the requirements of the Master of Arts in Applied Behavioral Science degree.

BH5128 Organizational Systems Coaching (2 credits)

This course focuses on organizational coaching from a systems perspective and explores coaching theories and models designed to assist client systems in establishing goals for improving individual, team and leader effectiveness, in support of achieving business results. Through practice sessions that build upon Carkhuff's helping skills, the client responsibility model is further explored and specific coaching skills are developed. Prerequisite: BH5127 Fundamentals of the Counseling and Coaching Relationship

BH5305 Practitioner Theory Seminar (1 credit)

In this capstone course, students integrate prior academic knowledge and practical experience in developing their theory of practice as a leader and/or consultant. Students present their theories of organizational health and change in a seminar setting with their peers and faculty who critique and build upon the theories of the authors.

BH6302 Strategic Leadership (1 credit)

In developing strategies, students are introduced to the basic concepts, theories and models of strategic planning. The theories and skills of forming and implementing an organization’s vision, goals and strategies are seminal and foundational to all subsequent courses in the leadership and organization development track and central to the work of leaders and professional change agents. Students explore their personal visions in support of learning to assist clients in this essential leadership endeavor.

BH6307 Leading Change (1 credit)

This course introduces a variety of theories and models of change including explorations of resistance, readiness for change and the factors that contribute to successful systems change. Concepts are applied to the master's change 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 their own emerging notions about healthy functioning in organizations and intervention strategies.

BH6308 Consulting Theory and Action (4 credits)

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Credits vary by quarter for a total of four. Action research, a fundamental methodology in applied behavioral science, is introduced as a means for practitioners to improve organizational effectiveness. The stages of action research are identified, explored and practiced. An introduction to the master's change project, based on the principles of action research, is included. Methods of gathering relevant data, providing focused feedback and facilitating effective action planning are examined. The essence of this approach is to enable clients to identify and solve their own problems and retain responsibility for the quality and productivity of their work unit.

BH6312 Leadership and Management (2.5 credits)

In this course, the complexities and paradoxes of leadership and supervision 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. An experiential process provides students with an opportunity to apply principles and theories of leadership and 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.

BH6318 Leading Cross-Functional Work Teams (1 credit)

Students explore issues generally related to task team dynamics in work settings, and particularly teams in which multiple functional perspectives make developing a cohesive and well-functioning team challenging. Emphasis is given to role clarification, decision making and accountability for cross-functional teams involved in restructuring or product development processes.

BH6323 Executive Coaching (1.5 credits)

Coaching managers and others to increase their effectiveness with employees is the central skill for directors, consultants, trainers and social change agents. Several phases of coaching are discussed and practiced: contracting to coach, preparation of the client's next steps in "live-action" coaching and debriefing both the client's and the coach's effectiveness. The importance of identifying systemic patterns is emphasized throughout all phases of coaching. Prerequisite: BH5128 Organizational Systems Coaching

BH6326 Third Party Conflict Coaching (1 credit)

Students examine their personal conflict resolution styles and learn to expand their own range of responses to conflict. These concepts and skills are integrated with Walton's theory of interpersonal conflict management, enabling the student to function effectively in the role of third party to an interpersonal conflict.

BH6332 Designing and Facilitating Training Events and Meetings (3 credits)

Credits vary by quarter for a total of three. 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 motoric (skill).

BH6336 Current Issues (1 credit)

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Students explore emerging issues in the field by engaging intradisciplinary or interdisciplinary systemic perspectives and discussing how these may be applicable to change management in organizations. This course provides flexibility for faculty to introduce current and/or cross-disciplinary thinking with possible relevance for organizational development work, or based on their own interests in the field. The following examples are curriculum segments that have been previously offered at the discretion of the track faculty: Managing Polarities has explored fundamental paradoxes of organizational life and how a change agent may work productively with these; Murray Bowen: Concepts and Applications has examined system thinking from Bowen's family therapy perspective and its relevance to change agents.

BH6340 Legal, Ethical, and Professional Issues (1 credit)

This course focuses on the development of a foundation in values-based thinking along with an overview of ethics and the law for the leader/manager and organization development practitioner. Emphasis is placed on a personal integration and professional understanding of the legal, ethical, and values-based parameters of developing and maintaining a leadership/management career and consulting practice (internal and/or external to organizations).

BH6814 Professional Consultation (3 credits)

This course runs concurrently with BH6816, Master's Change Projects and serves as an adjunct to the student's field 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, his/her relationship with other professionals and organizations while enhancing the student's overall development as a professional.

BH6816 Master's Change Projects (15 credits)

This four-quarter sequence, consisting of a group and an individual project, provides students with vital field experience as a means to apply key behavioral theories to achieve organizational/group transformation. For the purpose of reflection and learning, students follow a written format to document their consulting approach, interventions and outcomes.