Strategic 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.

This course examines theories and research dealing with communication in formal organizations and institutions. Various models of organizational communication are introduced, as well as historical and current research in the field. Students learn to analyze and integrate theory and research and apply what they learn to current organizations. This course combines classroom lecture and discussion with an online component. For the lecture and discussion components, this course is paired with a morning session of BLP/STAT 202-CN taught by Jerry Lassa, and the class meets on alternate Saturdays: 4/1, 4/15, 4/29, 5/6 and 5/20. This course is part of the Business Leadership year one curriculum. First class attendance is mandatory.

The ability to communicate successfully is vital to professional success. In this course, students learn effective communication behaviors and skills for contemporary organizations. We will explore the dimensions of organizational communication, focusing on topics such as listening, nonverbal communication, ethics, and values, and will engage in interactive exercises and practical applications of theory, applying the skills needed to thrive and lead in today’s organizations. Students will complete the course with multiple skills, including a rehearsed elevator pitch to promote your professional career and an ability to evaluate, as a corporate ethnographer, the ways that organizations express their culture. We will focus on communication as a process and skill that can help individuals and their organizations gain a competitive advantage. Students will maximize their leadership and communication skills and be ready to apply them immediately in the workplace and in personal life.

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

This course is designed to explore the processes of bargaining and negotiation as theoretical, social, and managerial activities. It provides an overview of the basic theoretical approaches, concepts, processes, and research in bargaining and negotiation. Special emphasis is given in the areas of interpersonal and intergroup conflict as well as language bias and its links to negotiating. In addition, interpersonal influence techniques and the tactics and strategies involved with improved bargaining and negotiation are covered. The major purpose of the course is for each participant to gain insight into his or her own negotiating style and to become a more effective negotiator, as well as a more astute observer of social processes. The course involves extensive use of cases, role-plays, and related participative activities, enhanced by rigorous self-review and introspection.

As of 3/22/23, this course has been cancelled.

This course introduces the theory and practice of leadership: the capacity to mobilize group resources to affect fundamental change in organizations. Topics include understanding organizations as complex social systems; the difference between leadership and authority; navigating the politics of competing factions within organizations to achieve shared goals; emotional intelligence and the emerging neuroscience of leadership; the role of personal presence in establishing trust in leader-follower relationships; and the role of leadership in creating an environment in which risk-taking and innovative solutions are encouraged. The classroom, as well as students' experiences, become case studies in leadership. First class attendance is mandatory. This course combines classroom lecture and discussion with an online component. For the lecture and discussion components, this course is paired with another session of the BLP program, and meetings are held on alternate Saturdays: 9/24, 10/8, 10/22, 11/5, 11/19. The first in-person session will be done virtually.

This course introduces the theory and practice of leadership: the capacity to mobilize group resources to affect fundamental change in organizations. Within the past few years, the concept of leadership has shifted from the standard brick and mortar or in-person leader to the concept and necessity of the virtual leader and hybrid teams. As such, topics for this course will include understanding organizations as complex social systems; the difference between leadership and managerial authority; navigating the politics of competing factions within organizations to achieve shared goals; how a firm-wide, national, or global event like a pandemic can jolt the very definition of leadership and further require technological advancements, organizational transformation, and proactive and reactive change; emotional intelligence and the role of building and maintaining relationships of trust to drive optimal performance and continuous improvement; and the role of leadership in creating an environment in which risk-taking and innovative solutions are encouraged, learned from, and rewarded. The class, as well as students' experiences, will serve as foundational learning and ultimately become case studies in leadership.

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.

In this course, students will learn the basics and best practices of project management and some of the tools and techniques that help manage projects smoothly and successfully. These include the essentials necessary for project success, the stages of project management, determining a project's feasibility, defining a vision for the project, setting measurable objectives, assessing resources and constraints, creating a managing a project plan, and dealing with change. This course is designed for those who have no knowledge of project management and for those who have been managing projects without any formal training. Its objective is to prepare project managers to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate projects of all kinds successfully, thus reducing stress and ineffective communication while increasing efficiency and success.

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