Essential Information
Organizational development career education is offered at many schools throughout the United States. The most common form is found in master's degree programs such as those for organizational management, organization performance and organizational psychology. Master's degree programs are generally 30 to 40 credits in length and conclude in capstone projects, thesis projects or internships.
In addition to master's degree options, some schools offer bachelor's degree programs, graduate certificates and doctoral programs in organizational development. However, these types of programs are not as prevalent.
Here are common concepts in organizational development courses:
- Instructional technology
- Management methods and strategies
- Behaviors and concepts
- Conflict resolution
- Empowerment
- Public and private sectors
List of Courses
Organizational Practices
This is one of the first courses taken in most organizational development degree programs. The course introduces the terminology, research methods and types of organizational evaluation that will be used throughout the organizational development program and later in the workplace. The organizational practices course also discusses the history of organizational development, and how the concept has evolved over time.
Theories of Leadership
Students are introduced to the various leadership models used by top companies as this course discusses concepts such as chaos and complexity theory. Lessons also broach types of and techniques for change, such as incremental and strategic. Participants also learn evaluation techniques so that they can determine the best ways to lead in a given situation.
Diversity in Leadership
Future organizational developers learn how to understand and respond to the growing diversity in the workforce through this course. Students see not only how diversity affects individuals, but also the organization as a whole. The course also devotes time to globalization in the corporate world, with particular attention paid to the ways advanced technology and mergers have affected globalization in recent years.
Consulting
This course teaches one-on-one coaching to help individuals set and achieve goals that are related to the success of a business or company. Students analyze how individually coaching employees can lead to a change in culture across the entire organization. This course is an important part of most organizational development programs; it is often taken in the second or third semester of a degree program.
