Graduate and Adult Learning

Master of Organizational Leadership

CURRICULUM

What You'll Learn

  • Leadership theory and organizational behavior
  • Systems thinking and change management
  • Ethics, communication, and decision-making
  • Project leadership and applied research
  • A final capstone project addressing real organizational challenges
  • The safe, ethical, and effective use of Artificial Intelligence

CURRICULUM

MOLP 781 Leadership Literacy (3)

MOLP 781 is grounded in theories and models of applied leadership. This course examines the various components of the leadership process, including leaders, followers, goals, contexts, and cultural values and norms. The course also explores the dynamic relationship between leaders and followers, the means used by leaders and followers to achieve their goals, and the ethical implications of those means and the goals themselves. Focus is placed on how the concepts explored in class translate to application, as well as the importance of continuing to develop one’s understanding and practice of leadership throughout one’s lifetime.

Pre-requisites: None

MOLP 782 Data Analysis for Informed Decision Making (3)

This course introduces learners to the foundational principles and practical applications of data analysis as a tool for managerial and organizational leadership. Students will examine how quantitative and qualitative data are collected, interpreted, and applied to support strategic planning, resource allocation, performance management, and evidence-based decision making across a broad range of organizational contexts.

Pre-requisites: None

MOLP 783 High-Impact Communication (3)

MOLP 783 explores the communication between leaders and followers. Attention is given to how leaders and followers send and receive messages as well as how they may create and manage meaning. The course (1) presents major concepts of communication as they relate to the practice of leadership, (2) emphasizes the importance of understanding communication as it relates to the leadership process, (3) demonstrates the way communication affects the leadership process, and (4) builds professional communication skills that help leaders better communicate with their followers and diverse stakeholders. Major communication concepts addressed include audience analysis, verbal and written communication, nonverbal communication, and mediated communication.

Pre-requisites: None

MOLP 784 Ethics, Law, and Professional Practice (3)

Students will examine how ethical theories and legal and regulatory frameworks shape the leadership process, such as how leaders make decisions and communicate with stakeholders, how organizations structure policies, manage human resources, and respond to risk. The course explores a broad range of legal and regulatory considerations relevant to organizational leaders, including employment law, workplace rights and anti-discrimination protections, liability and risk management, regulatory compliance, contractual obligations, and sector-specific legal requirements. Students will build the analytical capacity to use ethical theories and legal frameworks as complementary tools for addressing professional dilemmas, evaluating organizational practices, and designing policies that reflect both moral responsibility and legal accountability.

Pre-requisite: None 

MOLP 785 Conflict Management (3)

MOLP 785 engages students in a study of behavioral dynamics for managing situations that occur in the leadership environment and how to prevent, manage, and de-escalate unhealthy events before they lead to more serious problems.

Pre-requisite: None

MOLP 786 Systems and Design Thinking (3)

This course prepares organizational leaders to address the complexity, uncertainty, and rapid change that define today's leadership environment through two complementary frameworks. Through systems thinking, students examine the interdependent factors and interactions that shape organizational outcomes, building the capacity to identify root causes of complex and "wicked" problems rather than addressing symptoms alone. Through design thinking, students approach problem-solving as a human-centered, iterative process emphasizing empathy, precise problem definition, creative ideation, prototyping, and solution testing. Together, these frameworks equip students to analyze multifaceted challenges, evaluate competing evidence, and design well-reasoned, actionable solutions for complex organizational environments.

Pre-requisite: None

MOLP 779 Leading Change (3)

MOLP 779 examines the theory and practice of leading organizational change across a broad range of organizational contexts. The course explores how leaders initiate, communicate, implement, and sustain meaningful change in environments marked by complexity, uncertainty, and resistance. Students will examine foundational change leadership frameworks alongside the human dimensions of organizational transition, building the analytical capacity to diagnose organizational readiness for change, design evidence-informed change strategies, and guide stakeholders through the psychological, cultural, and relational challenges that accompany transformation.

Pre-requisite: None

MOLP 788 Work Teams (3)

MOLP 788 explores ways of organizing people in organizations to solve problems and facilitate positive systemic change. In particular, functional, cross-functional, and self-directed work teams will be investigated. The benefits of having multiple people engage together in a collaborative and cooperative environment to develop and deliver an organization’s products and/or services will be studied, as well as the roles leaders play in facilitating work teams.

Pre-requisite: None

MOLP 789 Project Management (3)

Project managers are responsible for leading teams, defining goals, communicating with stakeholders, and seeing a project through to its closure; thus, MOLP 789 explores the roles and attributes of project management - the organization, planning, implementation, and navigation of project plans while managing financial, human, and temporal resources within restraints such as supply chains, budgets, and schedules. 

Pre-requisite: None

MOLP 790 Capstone Application Seminar (3)

MOLP 790 is intended to bring closure to the Organizational Leadership program. Attention will be given to bringing the program together and making sense of the program as a whole – that is, to integrate and interconnect the goals that were addressed across the program as well as emphasizing the application of the program goals respective of a student’s Area of Concentration and providing opportunities for reflective practice as a means for professional and personal growth prior to exiting the program.

Pre-requisite: MOLP 789. Successful completion of the other courses in the MOLP 700 series or permission from the Executive Director of Graduate Business and Organizational Leadership

MOL STACKABLE CERTIFICATES - 12 HOURS EACH

Leading People:

  • MOLP 781 Leadership Literacy 
  • MOLP 783 High-Impact Communication 
  • MOLP 785 Conflict Management  
  • MOLP 788 Work Teams 

Leading Projects:

  • MOLP 782 Data Analysis for Informed Decision-Making 
  • MOLP 786 Systems and Design Thinking 
  • MOLP 779 Leading Change 
  • MOLP 789 Project Management 

To be eligible for the certificates, students must be enrolled in the Master of Organizational Leadership and pursuing the full degree.

Take the next step with the Master of Organizational Leadership (MOL). Start your online coursework and prepare to lead with purpose.
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