This course examines organizational leadership and its relationship to organizational development and change. The course is interdisciplinary; examples from healthcare, business and industry, public sector, and education are utilized. The course specifically addresses contemporary and futurist leadership theory and practice based in the concepts and assumptions of the "new sciences."

This course focuses on the development of human services professionals over their careers in order to enhance their personal and professional development. Issues related to the interaction between personal and professional development, leadership approaches, and leadership styles are addressed.

This course focuses on a variety of issues embedded in both interpersonal and organizational communication. These issues include trust, organizational climate, perception, motivation, and the communication process. The course also elaborates on patterns of miscommunication as these patterns affect organizational communication.

This course focuses on theories and models of leadership with special attention to the demonstration of an understanding, familiarity, awareness, and competency of the principles of ethics and how they apply to decision making, leadership, leadership development, and value-based leadership.

This course examines the organizational factors that cause stress and identifies the costs of stress to the organization. Emphasis is placed on the principles and methods of preventive stress management from an organizational perspective, including the improvement of individual organizational relationships, the shaping of organizational policies and procedures, and the design of effective stress management training, employee assistance, and personal wellness programs.

This course is primarily designed for the practitioner who provides services to agencies, professionals, or organizations. The purpose of the course is to provide an understanding of the process of organizational consultation. The course focuses on providing the professional with a philosophy, a process, and evaluative criteria for determining the effectiveness of the consulting intervention that he or she provides. The course requires that the student actually do a consulting assignment as part of the course. The course also highlights case study and problem resolution strategies.

This course introduces the assumptions, theories, and processes of qualitative inquiry. The purpose of this course is to provide advanced graduate students with the theoretical foundations necessary to understand qualitative inquiry, and to enhance their abilities to conduct qualitative research and evaluation.

This seminar focuses on the structure and process of experimental research across the disciplines of business, education, and behavioral science. The seminar presents the concepts of probability, cause-effect relationships, and experimental paradigms. Upon completion of the seminar, the student will be able to design a quasi-experimental or true experimental research study that has internal and external validity, utilize correct experimental sampling techniques, collect and organize data systematically, adhere to acceptable reliability and validity standards in measurement, apply appropriate experimental methodology, perform inferential statistical analysis including t-tests with unmatched groups, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), and infer cause-effect relationships. The student will master the language of experimental research, distinguish between various methodologies, conduct literature surveys that provide the foundation of investigation, critique experimental research, review the dissertation research process, and construct effective research proposals. Also, computer applications, logistical issues, and ethical considerations are examined.

The course advances the proposition that the action research approach is a useful paradigm in the field and worthwhile model for dissertation work. Historical, philosophical and theoretical foundations will be discussed, but practical application will be the primary focus simultaneously with learning. This is consistent with an action research approach. Collaboration and group work is also a hallmark of action research so students will demonstrate their abilities to design, diagnose, plan, implement, observe, and reflect in cooperation with classmates. The various roles and skills necessary to be an effective action researcher will be discussed, as well as important issues related to empowerment, contextualization, ethical considerations, and validity.

This course provides students with skills necessary for the survey research process. This includes familiarity with questionnaire design, including framing the question, sample size, reliability, and validity in survey construction, and the strengths and limitations of the numerous methods used in survey research.

The dissertation is offered in four, 3-semester-credit blocks, each lasting one semester.

Block I

• Preparation of Chapters 1 and 2, Introduction and the Review of Literature
• Includes Residency II, which focuses on the successful completion of the dissertation, including the following: the completion of the plan of studies, in-depth library research, dissertation formatting and style, mind maps, committee meetings, Institution Research Board, and Dissertation Guides. Students will also have an opportunity to observe dissertation defenses and hear presentations from advanced doctoral students.
• Final formation of dissertation committee and approval of prospectus

Block II

• Preparation of Chapter 3, Methodology
• Proposal defense
• Application to the campus Institutional Review Board

Block III

• Preparation for Chapter 4: Results of Data-gathering and Analysis

Block IV

• Preparation of Chapter 5, Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations
• Completion of final dissertation document, including appendices, reference list, acknowledgements, dedication, and table of contents
• Submission of document to Turnitin®
• Approval of the final dissertation document.
• Final oral defense of the dissertation (open to faculty, student, public).
• Completion of final copy editing for binding and placement in the Library.

NOTE: Students who do not complete in four semesters must apply for a dissertation extension