Organizational Leadership, M.A.

Program Chair: Renee Just, Ph.D

Designed for people with professional experience in corporate, non-profit, government or entrepreneurial organizations, the Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership program prepares graduates to design and lead the human processes of organizational achievement.  The program develops graduates who can implement change, lead teams, motivate others to achieve, communicate strategies, solve problems and make a powerful difference in organizational success.   

  

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Students will objectively analyze organizational behavior and identify interventions based on theories of leadership, change and organizational development to improve organizational success.  
2. Students will identify, implement, and communicate strategies to motivate and lead teams, groups and organizational policy.  
3. Students will identify, gather, and use quantitative and qualitative data to ensure informed decision making in organizational planning.   
4. Students will define and use individual leadership strengths while improving areas identified as leadership challenges.  
5. Students will communicate the importance and value of diversity, inclusion, ethics in the organizational environment.  

Program Options

The Organizational Leadership Graduate Program provides two delivery formats:

• Through the Non-Program status option, students may take individual courses for personal or professional development. Students who select this format have flexibility in their course choice but are not degree-status students and would not qualify for financial aid.
• A student accepted into the M.A. in Organizational Leadership option commits to a 30 semester-hour program. The student is a degree-status student who may apply for federally supported financial aid resources.

Students may move from one format to another with full credit for courses taken in the program.

Diversity

The Organizational Leadership Program wishes to attract as diverse a student body as possible in order to maximize the educational experience of all participants in the program, and to provide to the field a wide array of competent professionals. To this end, we welcome applicants of different race, gender, national origin, religion, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, age, abilities, and disabilities.

Policy on Writing and Research Standards

Columbia College takes seriously its commitments to academic integrity and to academic excellence. The Graduate School expects its students to demonstrate high standards of scholarship and possess accurate and articulate communication skills. To this end, the Organizational Leadership program maintains the following policy on research and writing standards:

1. A significant writing component shall be present in every course for which graduate credit is earned.
2. A research component shall be present in every course.
3. Instructors will inform the program director of any serious deficiencies they note in a student’s performance of the writing and research components.
4. The program director and instructors will assist students in developing a plan to address any serious deficiencies. The plan may include remedial writing or undergraduate research courses in their home communities for which students would not be given graduate credit.
5. If a student is unable to address serious deficiencies, the program director and instructors may recommend that she/he withdraw from the program. If serious deficiencies persist, and the student refuses to withdraw, the program director may recommend to the Provost that the student be dismissed. The student may choose to challenge such a decision to the Graduate Council.