Master of Science in Organizational Leadership
The Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program at the College of Saint Mary is designed to prepare graduates for the practice of leadership in the non-profit and for-profit sectors. The program experience fosters the development of perspectives, personal awareness, content knowledge, and skills needed for individual influence and organizational leadership. Emotional intelligence and human capacity-building skills are developed to maximize personal influence and organizational achievement. In an environment of academic excellence, the program provides a foundation in strategic thinking, best practices in leadership, and functional organizational concepts in order that graduates will have the breadth of knowledge needed to influence people, advance their companies and lead change in today’s complex society.
Program Objectives
Graduates of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership online program will:
- Solidify a foundation for leadership practice by knowing and developing self as a person of influence
- Develop competence in multiple methods and purposes of communication
- Utilize cognitive skills necessary for effective leadership practice
- Develop and sustain leadership, management and peer relationships in multiple complex and challenging contexts
- Identify and leverage individual differences for team and organizational success
- Utilize critical and innovative thinking and systemic perspectives to create sustainable organizational change and growth
- Manage self and complex organizational agendas with a sound ethical foundation
- Demonstrate financial decision making capability
DESIGN
The design of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program is fully online, designed for working professionals. Take a maximum of two, eight week courses at a time, this accelerated format let's you complete the 30-credit hour program in just one year or two years. Cohorts begin each Spring and Fall.
Frequently Asked Questions
Curriculum
| Semester | Session | Course Name | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (Fall) Total Credit Hours: 12 |
1st Session | Leadership & You | 3 |
| Boundary Spanning Team Leadership | 3 | ||
| 2nd Session | Leadership Theory & Practice: Influence & Outcomes | 3 | |
| Negotiation & Conflict Management | 3 | ||
| Year 1 (Spring) Total Credit Hours: 12 |
1st Session | Building Human Capacity | 3 |
| Statistics and Research for Decision Makers | 3 | ||
| 2nd Session | Leveraging Organizational Behavior | 3 | |
| Strategy and Innovation | 3 | ||
| Year 1 (Summer) Total Credit Hours: 6 |
1st Session | Culture & Organizational Change | 3 |
| Financial Decision Making | 3 |
Required Courses in Your Major
MSOL 601: Leadership and You
In order to establish a framework for necessary leadership perspective, behavior, and communication, this course is designed to provide learning experiences for students in three domains related to leadership: self as multi-faceted and talented person of influence, authentic leadership functions, actions and outcomes, and the challenges and complexity of the leadership process.
MSOL 611: Boundary Spanning Team Leadership
This course is intended to facilitate strategy and communication skills valuable in building effective teams within departments or across organizational boundaries. The basic components of group evolution and performance will be examined in depth, including fundamentals of group interaction, development of team norms, determinants of effective team decisions, and management/leadership functions necessary to assist a team in achieving beyond its expectations.
MSOL 621: Leadership Theory and Practice: Influence and Outcomes
The purpose of this course is to increase graduate effectiveness as a leader through the analysis and application of essential leadership theories, practices and outcomes. This course examines the process of leadership, delineating the leader’s behavior within that process. Focus is on “real world” and present day personal application and the implications to organizations and to leaders. This course also examines the differences between management and leadership and the value of both to the success of organizations. Finally, this course facilitates self-reflection, self-assessment, and personal application of selected aspects of leadership.
MSOL 631: Negotiation and Conflict Management
Through this course, students learn to analyze and engage conflict through the lens of leadership. By exploring the various dynamics of conflict, including power, culture, communication and interests, students gain an understanding of the complexity of conflict. They will reflect upon their own natural responses to conflict, and to develop the skills and the confidence to work with conflict constructively and ethically. Through role-play scenarios, students practice principled negotiation and mediation skills, and explore strategies for managing entrenched conflict that may not be easily resolved.
MSOL 641: Leveraging Organizational Behavior
This course evaluates the various issues related to organizational success and human behavior. Students will analyze the causes of organizational behavior problems and will explore ways to ethically redirect and leverage behavior to contribute to organizational success. Current topics included are attitudes and bias, stress and resiliency, the relationship of emotions to outcomes, human motivation, responses to change, relationships and social and psychological capital, organizational politics and power, followership, and culture and diversity.
MSOL 651: Statistics and Research for Decision Makers
This course will assist students reading and evaluating the literature frequently encountered in leadership management research, as they pursue best practice information or studies related to their scholarly research and writing. Students will review descriptive statistics and explore inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression analyses. Students will practice critically evaluating research conducted by others. An overview of quantitative, qualitative and mixed method designs will be included, as will such topics as the scientific method, strengths and limitations of various research designs, reliability and validity, and conducting literature reviews.
MSOL 661: Building Human Capacity
This course is designed to assist students in analyzing and practicing the management and leadership skills necessary to maximize hiring success, build open and reciprocal clarity of expectations, develop, coach and intervene with employees. Students will assess for talents, skills and abilities in order to align employee talents with organizational needs. Students will practice communication skills needed to coach employees for continuous development as well as to intervene related to ineffective employee behavior. Students will explore their own array of personal perceptions, emotional intelligence and communication skills which may impact their success in managing others.
MSOL 665: Strategy and Innovation
This course has been designed to allow students to engage in innovative thinking, conduct and evaluate strategic planning processes and explore the integration of both in their organizations. Strategic thinking, strategic planning and strategic implementation will be conducted and evaluated. Students will explore strategy related to a well-planned use of resources, knowledge of one’s own industry, continuous assessment of external environments, working knowledge of organizational life cycle characteristics, clear organizational agendas and systems of organizational accountability. Innovation will be explored related to creating competitive advantage and value for the customer in both non-profit and for-profit organizations.
MSOL 667: Culture and Organizational Change
This course will focus on best practices in change management theory, various methods of data collection, strategic analysis of information, planning systematic change, and implementing and institutionalizing changes. The value and processes of building culture to support continuous learning and organizational improvement for high achievement and sustainability purposes will be explored. Students will evaluate methods of securing, analyzing, and utilizing a breadth of organizational performance data to improve institutional outcomes. The use of institutional standards and performance goals and benchmarks will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on the leader’s role and necessary actions in leading, supporting and sustaining desired changes through intentional and systematic culture change actions. Students will be expected to incorporate learning from MSOL courses when completing course assignments.
MSOL 669: Financial Decision Making
The purpose of this course is to provide students a working knowledge of the concepts, problems, tools and applications of corporate and non-profit financial decision making. Students are introduced to the concepts of financial management, the time value of money, and budgeting and forecasting. The course includes a significant emphasis on the role of analytics in financial decision making. Students will be introduced to the fundamental of business analytics, the role of analytics in business performance and the tools that can be used to perform analytics in different business functions. Students will also gain experience in reviewing financial statements, determining how best to analyze data for useful decision making and identifying relevant questions. The course will lead to an understanding of the importance of and strategies for integrating financial management within all areas of business operations.
Requirements for Graduation from College of Saint Mary
To graduate with a master’s degree in organizational leadership, you must complete 30 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
The Assurance of Accreditation
College of Saint Mary is approved to offer online programming by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). College of Saint Mary is authorized to deliver online programs and courses to students residing in the United States, excluding U.S. territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. If you have questions about enrolling in the online program, contact enroll [at] csm.edu (Enrollment Services).
Admissions Requirements
- A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
- Cumulative GPA: 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
- To be successful in the program, students will benefit from having 3-years of leadership experience. We recognize leadership comes in many forms, including the workplace, community, student organizations, volunteering, families and seek to lift up leaders from all walks of life.
Application Process
Apply online at CSM.edu/Apply
- Please submit the following:
- Official transcript from a previous institution accredited to award a bachelor’s degree
- Professional or scholarly writing sample
- Resume
- A conversation with the program director is available if you’d like to learn more about the program.
Academic Description
Master of Science in Organizational Leadership
The Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program at the College of Saint Mary is designed to prepare graduates for the practice of leadership in the non-profit and for-profit sectors. The program experience fosters the development of perspectives, personal awareness, content knowledge, and skills needed for individual influence and organizational leadership. Emotional intelligence and human capacity-building skills are developed to maximize personal influence and organizational achievement. In an environment of academic excellence, the program provides a foundation in strategic thinking, best practices in leadership, and functional organizational concepts in order that graduates will have the breadth of knowledge needed to influence people, advance their companies and lead change in today’s complex society.
Program Objectives
Graduates of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership online program will:
- Solidify a foundation for leadership practice by knowing and developing self as a person of influence
- Develop competence in multiple methods and purposes of communication
- Utilize cognitive skills necessary for effective leadership practice
- Develop and sustain leadership, management and peer relationships in multiple complex and challenging contexts
- Identify and leverage individual differences for team and organizational success
- Utilize critical and innovative thinking and systemic perspectives to create sustainable organizational change and growth
- Manage self and complex organizational agendas with a sound ethical foundation
- Demonstrate financial decision making capability
DESIGN
The design of the Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program is fully online, designed for working professionals. Take a maximum of two, eight week courses at a time, this accelerated format let's you complete the 30-credit hour program in just one year or two years. Cohorts begin each Spring and Fall.
Frequently Asked Questions
Accreditation
The Assurance of Accreditation
College of Saint Mary is approved to offer online programming by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA). College of Saint Mary is authorized to deliver online programs and courses to students residing in the United States, excluding U.S. territories of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. If you have questions about enrolling in the online program, contact enroll [at] csm.edu (Enrollment Services).
Admissions Requirements
Admissions Requirements
- A baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution.
- Cumulative GPA: 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.
- To be successful in the program, students will benefit from having 3-years of leadership experience. We recognize leadership comes in many forms, including the workplace, community, student organizations, volunteering, families and seek to lift up leaders from all walks of life.
Application Process
Apply online at CSM.edu/Apply
- Please submit the following:
- Official transcript from a previous institution accredited to award a bachelor’s degree
- Professional or scholarly writing sample
- Resume
- A conversation with the program director is available if you’d like to learn more about the program.
Curriculum
Curriculum
| Semester | Session | Course Name | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 1 (Fall) Total Credit Hours: 12 |
1st Session | Leadership & You | 3 |
| Boundary Spanning Team Leadership | 3 | ||
| 2nd Session | Leadership Theory & Practice: Influence & Outcomes | 3 | |
| Negotiation & Conflict Management | 3 | ||
| Year 1 (Spring) Total Credit Hours: 12 |
1st Session | Building Human Capacity | 3 |
| Statistics and Research for Decision Makers | 3 | ||
| 2nd Session | Leveraging Organizational Behavior | 3 | |
| Strategy and Innovation | 3 | ||
| Year 1 (Summer) Total Credit Hours: 6 |
1st Session | Culture & Organizational Change | 3 |
| Financial Decision Making | 3 |
Required Courses in Your Major
MSOL 601: Leadership and You
In order to establish a framework for necessary leadership perspective, behavior, and communication, this course is designed to provide learning experiences for students in three domains related to leadership: self as multi-faceted and talented person of influence, authentic leadership functions, actions and outcomes, and the challenges and complexity of the leadership process.
MSOL 611: Boundary Spanning Team Leadership
This course is intended to facilitate strategy and communication skills valuable in building effective teams within departments or across organizational boundaries. The basic components of group evolution and performance will be examined in depth, including fundamentals of group interaction, development of team norms, determinants of effective team decisions, and management/leadership functions necessary to assist a team in achieving beyond its expectations.
MSOL 621: Leadership Theory and Practice: Influence and Outcomes
The purpose of this course is to increase graduate effectiveness as a leader through the analysis and application of essential leadership theories, practices and outcomes. This course examines the process of leadership, delineating the leader’s behavior within that process. Focus is on “real world” and present day personal application and the implications to organizations and to leaders. This course also examines the differences between management and leadership and the value of both to the success of organizations. Finally, this course facilitates self-reflection, self-assessment, and personal application of selected aspects of leadership.
MSOL 631: Negotiation and Conflict Management
Through this course, students learn to analyze and engage conflict through the lens of leadership. By exploring the various dynamics of conflict, including power, culture, communication and interests, students gain an understanding of the complexity of conflict. They will reflect upon their own natural responses to conflict, and to develop the skills and the confidence to work with conflict constructively and ethically. Through role-play scenarios, students practice principled negotiation and mediation skills, and explore strategies for managing entrenched conflict that may not be easily resolved.
MSOL 641: Leveraging Organizational Behavior
This course evaluates the various issues related to organizational success and human behavior. Students will analyze the causes of organizational behavior problems and will explore ways to ethically redirect and leverage behavior to contribute to organizational success. Current topics included are attitudes and bias, stress and resiliency, the relationship of emotions to outcomes, human motivation, responses to change, relationships and social and psychological capital, organizational politics and power, followership, and culture and diversity.
MSOL 651: Statistics and Research for Decision Makers
This course will assist students reading and evaluating the literature frequently encountered in leadership management research, as they pursue best practice information or studies related to their scholarly research and writing. Students will review descriptive statistics and explore inferential statistics, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression analyses. Students will practice critically evaluating research conducted by others. An overview of quantitative, qualitative and mixed method designs will be included, as will such topics as the scientific method, strengths and limitations of various research designs, reliability and validity, and conducting literature reviews.
MSOL 661: Building Human Capacity
This course is designed to assist students in analyzing and practicing the management and leadership skills necessary to maximize hiring success, build open and reciprocal clarity of expectations, develop, coach and intervene with employees. Students will assess for talents, skills and abilities in order to align employee talents with organizational needs. Students will practice communication skills needed to coach employees for continuous development as well as to intervene related to ineffective employee behavior. Students will explore their own array of personal perceptions, emotional intelligence and communication skills which may impact their success in managing others.
MSOL 665: Strategy and Innovation
This course has been designed to allow students to engage in innovative thinking, conduct and evaluate strategic planning processes and explore the integration of both in their organizations. Strategic thinking, strategic planning and strategic implementation will be conducted and evaluated. Students will explore strategy related to a well-planned use of resources, knowledge of one’s own industry, continuous assessment of external environments, working knowledge of organizational life cycle characteristics, clear organizational agendas and systems of organizational accountability. Innovation will be explored related to creating competitive advantage and value for the customer in both non-profit and for-profit organizations.
MSOL 667: Culture and Organizational Change
This course will focus on best practices in change management theory, various methods of data collection, strategic analysis of information, planning systematic change, and implementing and institutionalizing changes. The value and processes of building culture to support continuous learning and organizational improvement for high achievement and sustainability purposes will be explored. Students will evaluate methods of securing, analyzing, and utilizing a breadth of organizational performance data to improve institutional outcomes. The use of institutional standards and performance goals and benchmarks will be explored. Emphasis will be placed on the leader’s role and necessary actions in leading, supporting and sustaining desired changes through intentional and systematic culture change actions. Students will be expected to incorporate learning from MSOL courses when completing course assignments.
MSOL 669: Financial Decision Making
The purpose of this course is to provide students a working knowledge of the concepts, problems, tools and applications of corporate and non-profit financial decision making. Students are introduced to the concepts of financial management, the time value of money, and budgeting and forecasting. The course includes a significant emphasis on the role of analytics in financial decision making. Students will be introduced to the fundamental of business analytics, the role of analytics in business performance and the tools that can be used to perform analytics in different business functions. Students will also gain experience in reviewing financial statements, determining how best to analyze data for useful decision making and identifying relevant questions. The course will lead to an understanding of the importance of and strategies for integrating financial management within all areas of business operations.
Degree Requirements
Requirements for Graduation from College of Saint Mary
To graduate with a master’s degree in organizational leadership, you must complete 30 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher.
