Change Management Certificate | Northwestern SPS - Northwestern School of Professional Studies

This course is organized to expose students to foundational perspectives and concepts of effective, ethical leadership and collaboration. Our work together will focus upon communication principles and practices that support evaluation of others’ leadership and your own practices as part of a team. We will explore models and theories that describe these topics and gain practice thinking and writing critically. The goal of this course is for students to leave with applicable knowledge and tactics that will help them to engage with others--as a leader and a team member-- to achieve good results in good conscience.

This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

Organizations are a part of our everyday lives. Whether at work, school, church etc., similar interpersonal and group behaviors and dynamics apply. The focus of this course is to examine several aspects of organizations from an integrated perspective, including how the formal organization, culture, people and work can all connect to transform inputs to outputs. Emphasis will be placed on understanding individual differences as the foundation of our interpersonal and managerial effectiveness. Case studies, classroom and online discussions, team assignments and presentations will all be part of the learning. At the end of the class, it is anticipated that students will have a better understanding of today's complex organizations and more equipped to navigate the workplace.

This course combines in-person sessions with online components - in-person Saturday dates are: 1/7, 1/21, 2/4, 2/18 and 3/4 on the Chicago campus. For the lecture and discussion components, this course is paired with ORG BEH 311-CN. This course is part of the Business Leadership year one curriculum.

This course has been cancelled as of 12/22/22. Please instead register for SOCIOL 302-CN: Sociology of Organizations. This is another required class for your program and is running at the same time and location as this canceled Organization Behavior class.

Our contemporary lives are shaped by participation in commercial, social, and government organizations. This course uses social science research to explicate the dimensions of formal organizations and show how they influence our public and private behavior. The course will investigate sources of organizational success (positive function) and failure. Students will learn how to address organizational dysfunction through applying research-based solutions. Exercises include case study scenarios, role-play videos, simulations, and path-dependent decision making. By the end of the course, students will be able to diagnose organizational problems and devise targeted remedies. This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course is an in-depth investigation of the forces driving organizational change and their impact on people and structure. Today's emphasis on quality, service, and efficiency has created great urgency for change that runs counter to other factors (e.g., a mobile labor force, uninspired leadership, and intense global economic pressures). The byproduct is often cynicism, self-preservation, and confusion--ingredients for disaster. Yet some organizations thrive; this course examines why, and explores change drivers and dynamics across organizational settings and situations ranging from major corporate mergers to not-for-profit politics. This course combines classroom lecture and discussion with an online component. This course is part of the Business Leadership year two cohort.

See Northwestern Summer Session schedule to view available sections of this course. 

Conflict takes place daily in all organizations, regardless of size. Research indicates ways to deal with misunderstood and mismanaged conflict. In this course, we will focus on two types of conflict: conflict that is positive and has the ability to increase productivity, effectiveness, and satisfaction; conflict that will result in negative outcomes. Recognizing both the positive and negative impact of conflict is essential. With that knowledge, you can develop positive strategies to maintain excellent working relationships and address issues as they occur. Our goals, then, are to identify conflict, determine whether it is positive or negative, and resolve it to the benefit of all.

Conflict takes place daily in all organizations, regardless of size. Research indicates ways to deal with misunderstood and mismanaged conflict. In this course, we will focus on two types of conflict: conflict that is positive and has the ability to increase productivity, effectiveness, and satisfaction; conflict that will result in negative outcomes. Recognizing both the positive and negative impact of conflict is essential. With that knowledge, you can develop positive strategies to maintain excellent working relationships and address issues as they occur. Our goals, then, are to identify conflict, determine whether it is positive or negative, and resolve it to the benefit of all. This course is part of the Business Leadership year one curriculum.

This course applies the concepts of strategic planning to various types of organizations. Initial discussions will provide a basic framework for preparing a strategic plan for corporations, non-profits and government agencies. Practical applications will be developed from case studies and the experiences of the instructor and students. Since we can learn from wide range of situational discussions, we will consider entrepreneurial and established operations, as well as success stories and failures. This course is conducted completely online. A technology fee will be added to tuition.

This course focuses on early-stage companies (including, but not only, startups) and how they are structured, financed, managed, scaled, and sold. It is an example-driven course that requires research outside class. While the course focuses on technology companies, this is interpreted broadly to include telecommunications, financial technology, medical technology, hardware innovation, and other topics; this is not a sector-specific course focused on "pure tech" (e.g. social media startups, ad tech, etc.). This is a case-driven, highly-collaborative course with a Socratic, conversational classroom environment, and it includes a midterm exam and a final project.