Program Overview

Master of Science in Organizational Leadership with a Concentration in Organizational Development

The Organizational Development master's degree concentration is offered online or on campus at the University of Denver in the evenings, or in a combination of both, to meet the needs of busy adults.

Program Overview

Students learn about organizations, organizational culture, and effective intervention strategies. Successful organizations are dynamic entities--adjusting goals, structure, and strategies due to needs and influences. Sometimes these adjustments are large, but quite often there are a series of small to mid-size changes that affect employees and processes, resulting in the need for an organizational development (OD) intervention.

Program Details

Students learn the history, challenges, and successes of OD and the different models and techniques to warrant a productive culture in a variety of organizational sizes, sectors, and types. An OD intervention strategy is created by defining the role of the practitioner as an internal or external consultant and constructing a diagnosis plan, synthesizing data from interviews and observations, and effectively communicating the findings in various applicable formats. Finally, a personal philosophy regarding change is developed and then examined through the context of analyzing organizational values and ethics, culture, and the human impact of change on employees.

Program Outcomes

This degree prepares students to:

• Articulate and define organizational development, history of OD, and challenges and possibilities using an intentional OD intervention.
• Develop and defend a personal philosophy of organizational change.
• Evaluate the impact of organizational culture and core values on OD interventions.
• Integrate the contract for a successful OD intervention with the organizational culture and determine the role of an OD practitioner in each stage of an OD intervention, distinguishing between an internal and external consultant.
• Assess, compare, and contrast different models of change and describe the impact of each model on an OD process.
• Define and organize OD strategies for different types of organizations (sectors, life cycle, size, industry, types of innovation, or other defining characteristics) for maximizing impacts of OD interventions.
• Summarize the importance and impact of the different organizational structures and design on OD strategy and interventions.
• Construct an organizational diagnosis plan by using interviewing, group facilitation, process observation, synthesis of data, and writing effective reports, with providing effective presentations of the findings.
• Analyze the human side of change and build strategies for successful implementation of an OD intervention that honor the loss, resistance and acceptance of changes.