Department Chair: Richard W. Stackman, Ph.D.
The M.S. in Organization Development (MSOD) program develops working professionals to assume leadership roles in the transformation of organizations through its emphasis on academic rigor and ethical practice rooted in Jesuit, Catholic tradition. Students learn relevant theory, gain interdisciplinary knowledge and develop practical skills in organization assessment, diagnosis, intervention and evaluation, enhanced organizational effectiveness and resiliency. The MSOD program focuses on team and organization change interventions necessary to create productive, compassionate organizations.
The MSOD program curriculum is designed around four essential elements that define the field. These elements are reflection (self-as-instrument), diagnosis, implementation, and evaluation.
Individual courses are linked by three separate projects that address the four elements. The core course work is comprised of 10 courses, and how it relates to these four elements. Students complete the core courses (26 credits) along with elective courses (6 credits). Unique to the MSOD program are interactive experimental projects in the Research and Analysis, Individual & Team Interventions, and the Culminating Project courses.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Develop research-based competence in applying theory to practice creatively in diagnosing, designing, implementing, and evaluating change interventions at the individual, team, and organization levels.
- Integrate, synthesize, and evaluate established and emerging theories and concepts from the fields of organizational behavior, organization theory, change leadership, team dynamics, and communication.
- Employ a balanced view of organizations to direct systematic techniques for gathering, interpreting, analyzing, and disseminating data related to organizational change initiatives.
- Embrace the humanistic foundations of organization development as an authentic (self-as-instrument) agent of change by upholding uncompromising ethics and respecting diverse ideas and backgrounds, and committing to life-long learning.
- Utilize knowledge associated with management fundamentals and emerging trends to demonstrate how planned change builds organizational capacity and resiliency.
Program Requirements
Students complete 32 credits—26 credits of core coursework and 6 credits of electives—in 23 months. The MSOD program focuses on team and organization change interventions from a business perspective through interactive experiential projects in the Research & Analysis, Teams & Small Systems Interventions, and Culminating Project courses.
Students are expected to have basic skills in MS Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Students must complete all degree coursework with a minimum cumulative 3.0 GPA.
