Doctor Strategic Leadership (DSL)

This course introduces theories, models and practices of strategic leadership. Students examine and discuss their own and others' epistemologies of leadership and organizational thinking and practice using analytic, systemic, cultural, religious, and value-based lenses. Students act as facilitators and consultants for a client-supported leadership development project.

This course introduces concepts and methodologies appropriate to business model innovation in our complex world. Every organization has a business model whether or not explicitly stated. It is a framework of creating value that includes a broad range of formal and informal aspects including its purpose, offerings, strategies, infrastructure, organizational structures, transacting practices, and operational processes and policies. An exceptional business model will frequently prove more important in an organization's success than excellent operations and or products and services.

The course proceeds on three tracks: (1) basic academic skills needed to competently evaluate and conduct research - quantitative, qualitative, laboratory and field; (2) basic academic understanding to effectively evaluate research and knowledge; and (3) guidance toward helping you develop a professional niche and embark on your own research projects.

This course reviews and discusses the psychological, emotional and cognitive elements within various military and civilian leadership models from the perspectives of the individual, group and organization.

This course covers the range from fundamental to complex project management and project leadership. The objective of this course is to introduce and reinforce the traditional approach, principles, tools and techniques of planning for, managing and leading projects, as well as to provide a systems framework and methodologies for planning for, managing and leading complex projects.

This project-based, team oriented course provides a methodology for implementing enabling information technologies and tools that add value to organizations. It addresses the application of crowd sourcing, social computing, cloud computing and analytics to make better leadership decisions and to improve organizational performance.

The purpose of this course is to introduce and enable students to apply to their organizational challenges the Theory of constraints (TOC). TOC is a systems thinking methodology based on the idea that the apparent complexity of a situation can be resolved if the constraint or rate limiting step to improved performance can be identified. The methodology has two prongs; one focused on flow systems as found in manufacturing and in supply chains, and one focused on problem mapping through which a set of symptoms or "undesirable effects" are linked to a few core conflicts. Each prong presupposes that apparent complexity can be reduced by scrutinizing the causal structure of any system. Behind complexity lies simplicity.

This course introduces theories, models and practices of strategic organization development and change. We will review the research on successful organizational change and its link to organization strategy through the lens of organizational systems. We will also explore our own beliefs and experiences about organizational change, how it happens, what makes for success, and what leadership practices contribute to outcomes.

Increasingly rapid rates of environmental, technological and demographic changes are shifting the relationship between people, workplaces and production activities. In this evolving digital economy, business value is derived from the ability to leverage new technologies to transform the way business is conducted. Smart, configurable, on-demand workspaces, tool networks, intelligent machines, data analytics and immersive virtual presence capabilities are automating work and augmenting individual and collective abilities. Increasingly in this context, mixed global workforces comprised of permanent and contingent human and machine labor form dynamic and adaptive team structures to generate social, environmental and financial value. Learning agility, entrepreneurial risk and collaborative capability are required cultural characteristics for successful organizational outcomes. This project-based course will introduce theories, tools and practices for leading in the digital transformation era in which individuals, organizations and industries are progressing unevenly towards digital mastery. The course will predominantly utilize immersive collaboration and learning technologies to illustrate how digital tools transform work. A 3D immersive classroom environment will provide students basic experience with distributed online project work, collaborative tool ecosystems, and effective leadership practices for new ways of working.

This course supports the student's independent exploration of topics related to strategic leadership, theory, organization development, practice, and/or evaluation. Students will augment their knowledge and skills in a particular topic area by appropriate methods such as exploring the literature, interviewing experts, and/or engaging in research and/or development activities. The actual content and method(s) will be approved by a faculty supervisor and/or mentor and directed by the student. Students will demonstrate a series of competencies in an area of interest as the primary outcome of this course.

This course will introduce theories, tools and practices for leading in the digital transformation era in which individuals, organizations and industries are progressing unevenly towards digital mastery. The course will predominantly utilize immersive collaboration and learning technologies to illustrate how digital tools transform work. A 3D immersive classroom environment will provide students basic experience with distributed online project work, collaborative tool ecosystems, and effective leadership practices for new ways of working.

This course concerns a specific form of strategic planning appropriate for organizations operating in complex contexts and environments. This distinctive approach is prospective, informed by systems and design thinking, and is stakeholder-community-based in that it includes that direct involvement of those who hold a stake (i.e., are the stakeholders) in the organization seeking a strategic plan. The course follows a set of project steps beginning with contracting with the client and collaborative project planning, and ending with delivery of the strategic plan. The course does not include plan implementation.

The purpose of this course is to provide students with a comprehensive introduction to strategic thinking and to strategy formulation and execution. A broad range of common patterns of strategy are examinedand guidelines are provided on when, why and howto apply them. The course takes a systemic approach to strategy, considering it as a dynamic, adaptive process that influences and is influenced by the multiple critical relationships the organization has in the wider environment in which it operates. Particular attention is paid to understanding the benefits and pitfalls of both collaborative and competitive strategies and the trade-offs they imply. A general four-step model is proposed for implementing strategy and ensuring effective execution.

The aim of this course is to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of survey research methods. The course syllabus covers every stage of the survey process, from design to analysis. For participants who plan to design and carry out their own survey, this course provides the practical and theoretical tools that are needed to produce high quality survey data. For participants who plan to analyze these data, or data from pre-existing social surveys, it will provide the applied knowledge and skills that are required to produce high quality research.

The purpose of this process consulting-focused project-based course is to enable leader-consultants to help organizations address their complex problems. Organizations enter into an explicit or tacit educational partnership with DSL and/or DSL students with a challenge and expectations that their project will be mostly completed by the end of the semester although some continue longer. Students participate in all consulting projects but tend to focus on one by joining a project team. Activities include organizational system diagnosis, planning, designing, and implementation.

This course has three purposes. One is to support the student's independent exploration of an applied strategic leadership research topic related to theory, development, design, practice, opportunity, and/or evaluation. The second is to build information and knowledge, and to contribute to the literature review requirement of the doctoral dissertation/capstone. The third is to assist students in structuring a project plan to complete their dissertation/capstone. Students will augment their knowledge and skills in a topic area by appropriate methods such as exploring the literature, interviewing, and/or engaging in research, design, and/or development activities. The actual content and method(s) will be approved by a DSL faculty supervisor and/or mentor but directed by the student. Students will demonstrate a series of strategic leadership research competencies in an area of interest as the primary outcome of this course.

This course has two purposes. One is to support the student's independent exploration and understanding of strategic leadership executive education to support leadership development and leadership emergence in an organizational context. Another is to build information and knowledge, and to contribute to the applied scholarship of the doctoral dissertation/capstone. Students will augment their knowledge and skills in a topic area by (1) selecting or identifying a leadership development problem or opportunity, (2) identifying and confirming an organizational context or host, (3) designing and developing an education or training curriculum including learning objectives, (4) creating and delivering the content drawn from the curriculum using a channel appropriate to the topic and organization context, and (5) evaluating the outcomes of the executive education to address the problem or opportunity for which it was created and delivered. A DSL faculty supervisor and/or mentor will approve the design and deliverables but the student will direct and conduct the work. Students will demonstrate strategic leadership executive education competencies in an area of interest as the primary outcome of this course.