Executive MOD Program Curriculum

An overview of behavioral science interventions for organizational and transorganizational improvement; explores the concepts and history of organization development, power and politics in change, role of change agents, types of interventions, importance of measurement and empiricism, ethical considerations, and models of organizational change. 

Develop competencies for facilitating collaborative projects utilizing synchronous/asynchronous and in-person/distance approaches. Use of collaborative methods for data collection and diagnosis, organizational planning and learning, collaborative event design and facilitation, decision-making, project management, strategic planning, and various kinds of change initiatives.

Study of interventions that focus on improvements in individual and group performance; individual development interventions; improving interpersonal relations; characteristics of effective work groups and teams; team building; process consultation; individual and group decision making.

Integrative course that examines the various strategy, structure, and culture options to cope with a challenging, global, competitive environment.  Focuses on dimensions of structure; impact of strategy, size, technology and environment on structure; organizational effectiveness criteria; theories of organization; the nature of organizational culture; pressures for changes in strategy from within the organization as well as from competitive forces, macro-environmental trends, and discontinuous shifts; and the interrelationships among organizational strategy, structure, and culture. 

Use of applied research methods to identify organizational effectiveness issues and to determine possible causes.  Focus on measures of organizational effectiveness, hypothesis formulation, qualitative and quantitative research designs, and the role of empiricism in organizational change. 

Use of techniques for collecting, analyzing, and feeding back data to the organization. Focus on qualitative and quantitative collection procedures, statistical tools, and analysis protocol; techniques for presenting results to the organization, and utilization of results for intervention design and evaluation.

Development, adaptation, and application of theories and methods emphasizing inter-group, systemic, and trans-systemic change. The focus is on the change of an organization or community, not necessarily determined by the size of the system.

Study tour exploring the development and application of OD principles and techniques in contexts and cultures outside the United States. International OD literature and models of international culture provide background for the required international study tour.

Capstone course integrating the knowledge and skills acquired in previous ORGD courses.

Understanding the effective functioning of individuals, groups and teams in organizations.  Emphasizes application of behavioral science knowledge to major organizational issues such as performance, decision-making, communication, conflict, and leadership.  Employs a cross-cultural perspective.