Organizational Leadership 500 Dr. Armstrong

 

Course Competencies: What don’t I want as a leader? What do I want as a leader? What is required of me to be a leader?  How will I lead?

 

Artifacts:  This introduction to the study of leadership both terrified me and inspired me.  It had been 20 years since I had written an academic paper and there were moments that I questioned if I really belonged?  The scholarly discussions of Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed intimidated me but also nudged me to dig deeper.  Soon, engagement in the readings and discussions ignited a fire in me and I thirsted for more.  The four questions to examine, the readings and the films started me down the path that helped me develop and articulate my leadership philosophy. 

 

Methods of Organizational Research 501 Dr. Popa

 

Course Competencies: Qualitative vs. quantitative research, formulation of research question and methods of research, data collection, recognition of personal bias, foundation for planning a research project that can be considered for publication.

 

Artifacts:  This course was perfectly times for me because at the same time I was taking it, I was also working developing a research study for my organization in partnership with a rehab facility in Pennsylvania.  This course helped me to take a critical look at the design and methods of our question set and helped me to see my own biases.  We hope to complete our study and have it published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery in 2016. 

 

Leadership and Imagination 502 Kristine Hoover, Dr. Horsman, Dr. Topuzova and Frankie White

 

Course Competencies:  Describe, analyze, and evaluate the dynamics of the creative process.  Apply, analyze, and interpret the dynamics of the creative process present in organizational leadership.

 

Artifacts:  The three day intensive on campus for this course were some of my favorite times in this course.  It was during this class that I rekindled my own creativity and “made space” in my life to become more creative.  In completing the final project, I realized how important creativity is in my life and how I need to continue to find ways to stay creative in my life and in my work.  In this course, I was also introduced to the option of the servant-leadership concentration and it was during these three days that I decided I wanted to put my academic focus on service.  Link to final project on youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ron22yFrplA

 

 

Organizational Ethics 503 Dr. Kingsley

 

Course Competencies:  Develop a strategy to describe personal responses to ethical problems, to describe personal worldviews, to balance personal virtues with the organizational setting, to create a cooperative community with shared values and to develop a strategy to analyze ethical dilemmas and recommend a course of action.

 

Artifacts: During this course, we were given ethical dilemmas to discuss. Part of the discussions focused on how we described our “worldviews.” Conversations revolved around secular versus spiritual worldviews and how those translated into our personal and professional lives.  We examined the lives and beliefs of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis and tried to discern where we fell on the spectrum of secular and spiritual worldviews.  I appreciated the conversations in this course as they forced me to look at my own biases again and take others’ worldviews into consideration. 

 

Organizational Communications 504 Dr. Givens

 

Course Competencies:  Identify and be able to discuss major issues regarding communication and leadership in organizational settings.  Demonstrate an understanding of organizational communication theories and related processes.

Develop skills in analyzing and making recommendations regarding communication and leadership in varied organizational settings, scenarios, and/or case studies.  Enhance your own competency as a communicator and leader in organizations.  Apply critical thinking to the ethical issues surrounding organizational communication and leadership.

 

Artifacts:  I selected the No Limits Foundation, a non-profit organization that I have partnered with for 10 years, for my communications audit.  Through this audit, I was able to assist them with streamlining their social media messages and cleaning up their website.  Through a critical analysis of organizational silence, I was able to see how detrimental not speaking up can be in an organizational setting and through our final group project, we evaluated the efficacy of the communications in the intelligence community in finding an assassinating Bin Laden.  This course was very helpful in highlighting the importance of effective communication.

 

Organizational Theory 505 Dr. Haught

 

Course Competencies:  Organizational Theory overview to learn how to think about organizations in the context of Bolman and Deal’s four frames and Gareth Morgan’s insight into the use of metaphor to describe organizations. A collaborative group project applied theory to an organization (Starbucks) and then I applied theory, frames and metaphor to my own organization to identify areas of change and possible improvement. 

Artifacts:  This was the first class where we did a group project online and it proved to be quite a collaborative feat.  I learned a lot from working in a team online.  Also, it was very interesting to apply the four frames to my organization because I hadn’t thought about thinking of our organization from any other frame than the human frame (health care).  I also really appreciated the Web of Inclusion theory of leadership and have kept that web image in my mind as a powerful way to lead ever since.

 

Leadership and Diversity 506 Cheryl Coan

 

Course Competencies:  Explain and evaluate the impact of race and ethnicity on an individual’s life. Demonstrate the ability to understand the perspective of another by applying intercultural communication theory and practices.  Describe and analyze various issues affecting gender and communication in social groups and in organizations.  Apply concepts learned about race, class, gender, and intercultural communication to improve their personal leadership and communication competencies.

 

Artifacts:  This was one of my favorite courses because it opened my eyes to cultural dissonance in a way that I have never imagined.  I thought I understood white privilege, but I really didn’t understand how deeply it permeated our society.  At the conclusion of this course, I created a power point presentation focused on culturally competent care in the amputee world and I am very proud of that piece.  I also thoroughly enjoyed engaging with my classmates on tough subjects involving race, gender, ethnicity, poverty, etc.  It was a safe place to get real and I appreciated it very much.

 

Leadership Community Empowerment Collaboration and Dialogue 522 Dr. Carey and Dr. Horsman

 

Course Competencies:  This course is an appreciation for and an understanding of the leadership processes of empowerment, collaboration, and dialogue in the context of creating and transforming community. Emphasis is given to understanding individual and group development, structures of collaboration and dialogue, and leadership, which is oriented toward process rather than product.

 

Artifacts:  Of all of my GU courses and experiences, this one was a life-changer.  Living a monastic life for five days, collaborating with our learning community there, defining our ideas of the 12 Steps to Functional Organizations based on our experiences at the monastery, the readings (LOVED Peter Block’s Community) and immersing ourselves in this experience will be with me forever.  I have been back to the monastery since this course and plan to attend every year that they continue to run the alumni retreat.  This is truly one of the best things I have ever been a part of. 

 

Servant-Leadership 530 Dr. Spears

 

Course Competencies:  Conceptualize and articulate the philosophy of servant-leadership. Analyze a leader and/or organizational system using servant-leadership criteria.  Articulate a personal, servant-centered philosophy of leadership.  Plan, propose, and prepare to implement the philosophy of servant-leadership through servant-leadership development programs in a work situation.

 

Artifacts:  During this course I got to interview a woman I highly respect and share her thoughts on servant-leadership, along with sharing my own assessment of myself as a servant-leader in training.  The course helped to bring focus (and a name) to the type of leader that I aspire to be.  I also got a chance to share a presentation on how we can further develop servant-leadership in our health care organization. 

 

Leadership, Justice and Forgiveness Dr. Ferch

 

Course Competencies:  Understand emotional discipline based in love that 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. 

 

Artifacts:  This is another course that changed the way I look at my life, my humanity and my willingness to be vulnerable and forgiving.  It also made me look at my willingness (or unwillingness at times) to seek forgiveness.  This course was a deep dive into my interior.  The readings were powerful and affirming and the discussions were humbling and awe inspiring.  I still pick up the books from these courses and re-read all of my highlighted pages.  This course should be a required course for ORGL (my opinion).  

 

Foresight and Strategy 537 Dr. Horsman

 

Course Competencies:  Based on the course materials and processes students will demonstrate progress in their development as a Servant-leader in training by engaging the dispositions, capacity and skills of servant-first; congruence; communicator; compassionate collaborator; moral authority; foresight and strategy; and systems thinker.

 

Artifacts:  Another extraordinary experience with Dr. Horsman and the course participants.  The three day intensive on campus solidified my understanding of Scharmer's Theory U and awakened an awareness in me that leaning in to the emerging future is the critical to leadership.  Furthermore, the course has inspired a meditative practice that I am able to consistently engage in (4 Breath Exercise) and has sparked an interest in diving deeper into Theory U for my future.  

 

Leadership Seminar 680 Dr. Popa

 

“Review where you came from, where you have been, and forecast or foreshadow where you are going.” ~Dr. Popa