There are a number of reasons organizations seek change. To run more effectively. To react to changes in the industry. To become more profitable. Successful managers are able to not merely adapt to changes that affect the well being of their organization, but to lead it.

Designed and taught by a dedicated team of management professionals and academics, the DM with a concentration in Organizational Development and Change challenges you to analyze an entire cycle in action research in a complex organization, learn how to design a large systems intervention strategy and encourages you to acquire an ethical leadership style.

Courses in our project-based Professional Learning Model™ are taught in an executive format and delivered online. Twice each year, students attend an intensive residential symposium lasting four and a half days.

The DM with a concentration in Organizational Development and Change is a three-year program. The coursework covers topics such as management fundamentals, research methods and design, large scale transformational change, and other areas relevant to management positions in this area.

• Year 1: The Foundation
  The beginning of the program focuses on research. Each student will spend the first year learning about classic and current management literature and developing competence in research methods. A review of the literature will be completed and work will begin on an action research proposal.
• Year 2: Acquisition of Knowledge
  Once the foundation is in place, year two is the time the student chooses an area of concentration and begins to form a personal understanding of the management research and methods used in that area. Course work will focus on the concentration area: Organizational Development and Change.
• Year 3: Leadership and Professional Advancement
  In the final year, leadership skills and the ability to manage change are developed. Students will use qualitative methods and strategic processes to be able to predict future trends, furthering a mastery of a concentration. The final year will result in the production of a series of articles or a dissertation that must be approved by a three-member committee.

Successful completion of the DM with a concentration in Organizational Development and Change can provide students with an applicable foundation of industry-related knowledge and skills, including how to:

• Attain familiarity with the body of knowledge in current management theory.
• Become a subject-matter expert in a specialized area of management.
• Develop a leadership style based on ethical and philosophical consideration.
• Effectively manage change through strategic design and research.
• Predict future trends through effective research and qualitative methods.
• Contribute to management literature via literature reviews, practitioner articles and research.
• Evaluate organizational design in the context of the strategic plan.
• Design a large systems intervention strategy.
• Experience and analyze an entire cycle in action research in a complex organization.

Coursework will cover topics such as management fundamentals, research methods and design, large-scale transformational change and other areas relevant to management positions in this area. For example:

• In Large Scale Transformational Change, students can explore the theory and techniques involved in large-scale change interventions for corporations, multinationals, Non-Governmental Organizations, Private Voluntary Organizations, governmental, organizational institutions and new forms of collaborative organizations.
• In Strategic Thinking, students can develop their capacity for concurrent action and ‘birds-eye’ perspectives of ongoing organizational activity. Students can also develop and expand their ability to think strategically, which involves using various typologies and methods of exploration and an examination of heuristics and biases.
• In Futuring and Innovation, students can develop a socio-technology plan for the future of the organization and can also look at formal models of innovation and diffusion of innovation. They will also have the opportunity to talk with futurists and futures organizations, becoming involved in the World Futures Society and tech trending with leading electronics and aerospace companies.

Additional concentration courses in this program include:

• Strategic Organization Design
• Advanced Action Research
• Special Topics in Organization Development

The Doctor of Management program includes twelve 5-credit instructional courses, taken one per quarter for three years, plus a research-and-writing class taken each quarter. Each class is conducted online. Twice each year, students attend an intensive residential symposium lasting four and a half days. Core courses include:

• Fundamentals of Management
• Research and Writing I
• Research Methods and Design
• Research and Writing II
• Qualitative and Ethnographic Methods
• R&W III: Action Research Theory
• Quantitative Methods
• R&W IV: The Practice of Action Research
• R&W V: Process Consulting & Intervention Theory
• R&W VI: The Practice of Process Consulting & Intervention
• Research and Writing VII
• Research and Writing VIII
• Philosophy of Science, Values, and Ethics
• Research and Writing IX
• Leadership
• Research and Writing X
• Research and Writing XI
• Research and Writing XII

Successful completion of this program also requires you to communicate your research results and prepare them for publication. You will have the option to complete a dissertation a number of publishable-quality papers