Electives

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Britt Stone
Call or Text: (509) 313-6235
Email: stoneb@gonzaga.edu
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Organizational Leadership

Students are required to take two Organizational Leadership courses for a total of 6 credits. Your faculty advisor will help determine which ORGL electives are best based on your individual goals and career plans.

ORGL 504 Organizational Communication - 3 credits

This will explore contemporary concepts about the meanings and functions of communication in organizations. Organizational communication encompasses not only communication within businesses, but also within large private and nonprofit associations, larger community groups and governments both large and small. We will cover selected topics in organizational communication research such as culture, socialization, systems theory, communication and technology and globalization.

ORGL 506 Leadership and Diversity - 3 credits

Who we are – whether we are comfortable with this idea or not – is shaped in part by the social roles we occupy and how society sees us in those roles. As we will see from the very beginning of this class, our social roles, the class we are born into and our gender all have implications for our lives. We will explore intercultural communication as a tool for bridging differences and learning about identities, practices and cultures.

ORGL 516 Organizational Development - 3 credits

This course focuses on how OD consultants – internal or external – can support both leaders and all members of an organization in achieving their goals, mission and vision. Students will explore ways to conduct systematic diagnoses of organizations, consider how to create and implement effective OD interventions, and investigate multiples methods, tools, and technologies used to effectively implement major change in organizations. Through consideration of the predictable human dynamics involved when orchestrating the implementation of major disruptive change, students will develop an awareness of the nature, application, and practice of the profession of Organizational Development.

ORGL 518 Transforming Leadership - 3 credits

How do contemporary leaders go beyond the social exchange theory to convert followers into leaders and leaders into moral agents? This course offers a comparison of transactional and transforming leadership by examining past leaders and events. An examination of the dynamics of transformation and how leadership can facilitate it within individuals and organizations will help students develop new insights into the theory and practice of transforming leadership.

ORGL 530 Servant Leadership - 3 credits

The foundations of Servant-leadership are explored with an emphasis on reviewing the original writings, and on conceptualizing and articulating the philosophy through a clarification of what it is, and why Servant-leadership is relevant. Human development theories are used as theoretical frameworks for identifying criteria to assess servant-leaders and servant-organizations, and for understanding how they develop and function. Dialogue is encouraged as a way of integrating aspects of the philosophy with applied experience and gain insights into the students own leadership approach.

ORGL 532 Leadership, Justice and Forgiveness - 3 credits

Emotional discipline based in love calls a person toward meaningful responses to human suffering. Such responses are grounded in discernment regarding human conflict, oppression, power and harm, and the opportunities – personal, familial, societal and global – that rise from the crucible of potential that is our humanity. The course engages students toward self-responsibility in the context of reconciliation and the depth of heart, mind and spirit that leads to healing and growth in community with others. Students will work to apply the interior leadership necessary for discernment and action within oppressive systems.

ORGL 535 Listen, Discern, Decide - 3 credits

In this class, students will learn more in-depth concepts of Servant-leadership by learning approaches and practices of listening and discernment as a way of enhancing decision-making capacity. The course begins with a focus on interior and exterior listening. Listening and awareness techniques are then integrated with the principles and practices of discernment. The course progresses from a focus on the individual, to group, to listening and discerning and decision making in organizations and communities.

ORGL 550 Team Building and Leadership - 3 credits
3-day on-campus residency

This three-day intensive program is designed to increase students\’ knowledge and understanding of leadership and team development through a combination of information sessions and active participation in cooperative, challenge activities. Challenge activities are designed to enhance students’ critical thinking skills, creativity, problem-solving ability and ability to work effectively as a team. These activities present opportunities to taking leadership roles, recognize leadership styles, identify what works and what doesn’t work in given situations and apply lessons to real life situations. Topics include the communication process, leadership models and styles, stages of team development, ethics, diversity and visionary or principle-centered and creative leadership.

ORGL 610 Communication and Leadership Ethics - 3 credits

Inquiry into the personal, organizational, and social values present in moral dilemmas. Students will develop skills in ethical communication and decision-making and recognize how to act for the common good as leaders who can acknowledge and consider multiple moral perspectives within a global context.