Organization & Management Courses Spring 2005

First Year Program
Second Year Program
Health Care Management
Department Workshops - Portsmouth
Department Workshops - Keene

First Year Program

OMG 535
Group Dynamics & Leadership I
Competency Area: Collaboration & Group Dynamics
Required of 1st year O&M Spring Enterers.

This course is designed specifically for first semester O&M students. It will focus on group development, group dynamics, and leadership. The course introduces students to elements of group dynamics and to a model that matches leadership styles to stages of group development. Students work in teams during the course and use course concepts to analyze their experience. Skills emphasized are group leadership and membership skills, group observation and feedback, conflict management, and managing diversity in groups. Students are expected to read The One Minute Manager Builds High Performing Teams by Blanchard, Carew and Parisi-Carew before the first class meeting. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Peter Smith
Time: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, January 28, 29 & 30,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 2

OMS 520
Leadership and Management Theory and Practice
COURSE ADDED (11/19/04)
Competency Area: Self Development
Required: First year O&M students.

This course will explore and evaluate models of leadership and management. Using a theoretical and developmental approach the principal learning objective is to construct personal models of leading and managing in complex environments. Through a variety of readings, experiential activities, self assessment tools and cases, students will have the opportunity to increase their knowledge and skill base and better determine the most effective ways to influence and sustain their organizations.

Keene Site
Section K: TBA
TBA Changed 01/31/05: Deborah Brown
Time: Sundays, April 3 & May 1, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 1

OMR 618
Managing Knowledge and IT Resources
Competency Area: Research & Information Design (Required)
Prerequisite: Basic computer and Internet skills.

The Communications Revolution demands that contemporary managers embrace and exploit Internet technologies that will forever alter their roles and the very structure of organizations. Managers must learn to wed both technological and human skills to succeed in the organization of the future. They must also develop a working model of, and experience with, the fundamentals of knowledge management. In this way, they can better support the creation and sustainability of communities of practice, which enhance knowledge sharing and its application in local, regional, and global contexts. This course will address the issues of managing IT resources and knowledge management, and outline the critical capabilities necessary to operate in this volatile period of organizational change. Students will participate in online assignments, make oral and written presentations, engage in role-plays, and use the Internet as an information resource. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: William Griffith
Time: Saturdays, January 15 & February 19 and
Sunday, March 6, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 3

OMS 529
Perspectives on Organizational Theory & Behavior
Competency Area: Systems & Strategic Thinking (Required)

This course presents multiple perspectives of organizational systems and the influence these various theories have on our understanding of human behavior, leadership, organizational effectiveness and sustainability. The interdisciplinary models and theories used in the course will provide a framework to broaden our knowledge and skills in understanding the complexities of organizational life. Among the key perspectives we will consider are how structure, human systems, power, influence and culture all shape the nature of the organization. Perspective taking expands our ability to look beyond the predictable limitations of our experience to develop new personal theories of management and leadership. From this vantage point the course will help students build a greater awareness of the impact of their own behavior in organizational settings and to continually improve the quality of their professional practice. The class will utilize on-line resources and participation to augment the classroom experience. Students should check the FirstClass course folder three weeks before the initial class meeting for pre-course reading assignments. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Steve Guerriero
Time: Sundays, January 16 & February 20, and
Saturdays, March 5, April 2 & 30, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 3

OMD 661
Professional Seminar
Competency Area: Self Development

Professional Seminar provides a setting in which students and faculty offer consultation and support regarding issues students face in their educational, professional, and personal development. All students enrolled in Professional Seminar meet as a community, working together with faculty to develop a productive and inclusive learning group. Students will focus specific attention to issues concerning adult learning and development, through a process of assigned reading, reflective writing, dialogue and guided activities. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Kathryn Dunn and Steve Guerriero
Time: Fridays, January 14, February 18,
March 4, April 1 & 29, 6:30 - 9:00 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 1

OM 690
SIS: Supervised Independent Study

If you are planning an independent study, please register for an SIS on your registration form. However, an SIS contract must be submitted to the Registrar's Office by April 20, 2005, in order for it to appear on your schedule or transcript. Please be sure to specify on the contract if the SIS will be used to fulfill a competency area or serve as a required course substitute, or as an elective. Contracts received after the April 20th deadline will be returned to you for registration in a subsequent semester (additional costs may apply). Credits will not appear on your schedule until the SIS contract(s) has been submitted to the Registrar's Office, thus affecting your enrollment status and perhaps your financial aid eligibility.

Credits: variable

Second Year Program

OMS 517
Elements of Strategy
Competency Area: Systems & Strategic Thinking

This course prepares students to engage in strategy formulation and implementation activities for profit and nonprofit organizations. The methodology used in class blends best practices from traditional and leading edge approaches to strategy. Students acquire skill and knowledge in topics that include: analyzing trends in the organization's micro and macro environments, developing strategies, implementing large scale initiatives, designing effective measurements, and managing strategic outcomes. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Tad Dwyer
Time: Saturday, January 15 and Sundays,
February 20 & March 6,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Portsmouth Site
Section P: Shannon Banks
Time: Sundays, January 16,
February 20 & March 6,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 24 per section
Credits: 2

OMG 531
Managing Diversity
Competency Area: Collaboration & Group Dynamics
Required of second year O&M Spring Enterers.

Successfully managing diversity and understanding the dynamics of difference in organizations requires skills in diagnosing and leading individuals and groups to acknowledge and capitalize on the richness of difference in all aspects of business, employee relations, and daily life. This course is intended to develop competencies and improve skills in managing and working effectively in a work force that reflects differences of every type. Students will: identify and develop competencies for managing the dynamics of change in the workplace; explore issues of sameness and difference; and enhance diagnostic skills for analyzing the dynamics of difference at the individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational levels. Students will do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Marsha Greenberg
Time: Friday, Saturday & Sunday,
January 28, 29 & 30,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 2

OMC 672
Organization Development
Competency Area: Purposeful Systemic Change (Required)

Organization Development refers to the applied behavior science discipline that seeks to improve organizations through planned short- and long-term efforts focused on the organization's culture, its people, and its processes. This course will introduce theory, approaches, and techniques for making organizations more effective. Students will gain experience in contracting, assessment, data feedback, and intervention design. Course participants will practice appropriate intervention strategies in a simulated or real organizational setting. This course is designed for managers who wish to lead change efforts, and for persons desiring to be internal or external organization consultants. Students will do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene: This course begins on line at the beginning of the semester. Students will engage in a semester-long simulation of two organization development consultations.

Portsmouth: Students will be working in consulting teams with real organizational clients. This will require out of class work with your teams and with the client. The course will begin with on-line information approximately 7-10 days prior to the first class meeting.

Keene Site
Section K: Donna Mellen
Time: Saturdays, February 19 & March 5, Sunday,
April 3 and Saturday, April 30,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Portsmouth Site
Section P: Peter Smith
Time: Saturdays, January 15, February 19,
March 5 & April 2,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 24 per section
Credits: 3

OMC 691
Practicum
Practicum Seminar
Competency Area: Purposeful Systemic Change
Restricted to matriculated O&M students.

Under faculty guidance, students doing practicum work will discuss their practicum projects, evaluate their experience and consult with other students. The seminar is designed to help solve problems confronting students as their projects unfold and to sharpen analytical and consulting skills.

Keene Site
Section K1: Wendy Elliott
Section K2: Donna Mellen
Section K3: Tad Dwyer
Section K4: John Carr
Time: Fridays, January 14, February 18,
March 4, April 1 & 29,
6:30 - 9:00 pm
Maximum: 8 per section
Credits: variable

OMC 694
Practicum
Practicum Seminar
Competency Area: Purposeful Systemic Change
Restricted to matriculated O&M students.

See description above.

Portsmouth Site
Section P1: Gerald Daley
Section P2: Marsha Greenberg
Time: Fridays, January 14, February 18,
March 4, April 1 & 29,
6:30 - 9:00 pm
Maximum: 8 per section
Credits: variable

OMS 501
Program and Project Evaluation
Competency Area: Systems & Strategic Thinking

When a program or project is not grounded in understanding of the real conditions in the organization and the environment, it is, at best, a gamble. Timely and relevant knowledge of those conditions is essential to effective planning. Knowledge is more than just information. It is the right information with appropriate structures for using the information embedded in a culture that supports their use. Evaluation research is a form of inquiry that systematically explores the implementation, effectiveness and outcomes of social programs or projects within an organization. This course provides a framework for evaluation that is applicable to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Students will have the opportunity and guidance to design an evaluation for a project of their choice. Students will do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Deborah Brown
Time: Saturday & Sunday,
March 12 & 13 and Sunday, May 1,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 12
Credits: 2

OM 690
SIS: Supervised Independent Study

Credits: variable

OMR 614
Technology & Knowledge Management
Competency Area: Research & Information Design
Prerequisite: OMR 610 Information Technology or permission of instructor attached to or on registration form.

Contemporary managers will enhance their effectiveness if they develop a working model of, and experience with the fundamentals of knowledge creation and management, as well as the demands and possibilities inherent in the rapidly expanding use of Internet technology. In this way, they can better support the creation and sustainability of communities of practice, which enhance knowledge sharing and its application in local, regional, and global contexts. This course will address these issues in both theoretical and case modalities. Students will participate in online assignments, make oral and written presentations, engage in role-plays, and use the Internet as an information resource. This course will begin online the week of February 20. An anthology of course readings will be available in hard copy on Friday night, February 18, at the O&M Department sites at both Keene and in Portsmouth. The reading list will also include a text and articles from online databases.

Keene Site
Section K: William Griffith
Time: Saturday, April 2 and
Sunday, May 1, 8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Portsmouth Site
Section P: William Griffith
Time: Sunday, April 3 and Saturday, April 30,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 16 per section
Credits: 2

Health Care Management

OMS 518
Organizational Systems
Competency Area: Systems & Strategic Thinking

Understanding the interdependence of organizational systems is vital to managing and leading in today's health care setting. Skillful managers recognize that a change in one part of the organization can have both planned and unintended consequences in other areas. They also value creative thinking and strategy to diagnose problems and create viable solutions. This course explores the relationships of organizational tasks, processes, and the external environment utilizing concepts from organizational analysis, development, and formulating strategy. Students will do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line.

Section HC: Steve Guerriero
Times: Wednesdays, April 6 & 27, 5:30 - 8:00 pm and
Saturdays, April 16 and May 14, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Saturday, May 14 Class Changed (03/15/05) to: Saturday, May 7
Maximum: 25
Credits: 1

Department Workshops - Portsmouth

OMH 585
Coaching for Excellence
Competency Area: Human Resource Development

This course is designed for supervisors, managers, team leaders, and people in any organizational role who find they have the opportunity and/or responsibility for coaching subordinates or team members. Students will learn what the coaching role entails and how it engenders commitment and motivates employees toward excellence. They will also learn (1) the distinctions between different types of coaching, such as on-the-job coaching, performance improvement coaching, mentor coaching; (2) situations in which coaching is applicable; (3) steps of the coaching process; and (4) the skills required to make coaching a positive and collaborative experience for both parties. Students will learn a coaching model and fine-tune their coaching skills through in-class practice and constructive feedback from the instructor and participants. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line. Students should check the course conference on FirstClass 18-21 days before the course begins for on-line assignments that must be completed prior to the first class meeting.

Portsmouth Site
Section P: Sunny Bradford
Time: Saturday & Sunday, April 16 & 17,
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 1

Department Workshops - Keene

OMS 503
Board/Staff Relations
Competency Area: Systems & Strategic Thinking
Priority to 2nd year O&M students.

Volunteer governing boards are a critical source of influence in community and nonprofit organizations, and good leadership from both board and staff is essential to their success. The best executives and their boards can provide vision, synergy, and leadership - yet the board-staff relationship is often inefficient or counterproductive due to inexperience, blurred roles, frequent turnover, inconsistent volunteer energy, crisis management mentality, and poor leadership development. This course will introduce the Carver governance model, Chait's teamwork model, and the organizational life cycle model as frameworks for understanding and improving the work of nonprofit and community boards, and the relationship between board and staff. Participants will apply systems thinking, situational leadership, and partnership models to the board-staff relationship, and take home a variety of hands-on practical board and board-staff development techniques to address situations in their own community. While geared more for staff and volunteers working with nonprofit governing or working boards, this course is also appropriate for those working with advisory boards, school boards and town commissions, as well as those in the for-profit sector who may volunteer in their community. Students are required to do pre-course readings and a post-course learning paper, and may also continue discussions of board-staff issues or case examples on-line.

Keene Site
Section K: Lizann Peyton
Time: Saturday & Sunday, February 12 & 13,
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Maximum: 24
Credits: 1

OMD 648
Career Development
Competency Area: Self Development
Priority to 2nd year O&M students.

Implicit in the idea of “career” is the notion of change. Our aspirations, visions, values, needs, knowledge, and skills shift over time. Yet we tend to respond primarily to the convenient opportunities that appear directly in front of us, rather than explore ourselves deeply for those values and desires that could guide us in making choices that truly fit and satisfy. This course will help participants to discover their values and aspirations and connect them to their “life phase” and “career anchors,” which they will have assessed as part of the course work. We will examine reasons for past career choices, and discover a rationale for future pathways. Each student must produce a personal strategic plan as verification for the course. Feedback is provided in a 1-2 hour face-to-face or telephone conversation between each student and the instructor. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line. About three weeks prior to the course weekend, students will be asked to participate in an on-line discussion on various aspects of career development theory and practice.

Keene Site
Section K: Ed Tomey
Time: Friday, Saturday & Sunday, February 4, 5 & 6,
8:30 am - 5:30 pm
Maximum: 16
Credits: 2

OMD 638
Entrepreneurial Leadership
Competency Area: Self Development
Priority to 2nd year O&M students.

Entrepreneurial Leadership has been touted by many as one of the ways of leading successful organizations in the future. What are some of the strengths of the entrepreneurial leader? What are the weaknesses? What can we learn and apply from the entrepreneurial leadership to help lead organizations in an increasingly dynamic and volatile marketplace? What does it take to become an innovator/founder of a successful start up? Among the course objectives are to learn more about your own ability as an entrepreneurial leader and how to more effectively employ the benefits and minimize the pitfalls that entrepreneurial leadership provides. In this workshop we will examine the unique aspects of risk taking, stages of organizational development, leadership behaviors, social entrepreneurship, and role that culture plays with entrepreneurial organizations. We will utilize case analysis and discussions and experiential methods to achieve the course objectives. Students may do additional readings and discussions, field or research projects, or case study analysis on-line. Note: There will be reading assignments required prior to the course meeting that will be emailed to all students approximately 4 weeks prior to the class meeting.

Keene Site
Section K: Peter Smith
Time: Saturday & Sunday, April 9 & 10,
9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Maximum: 14
Credits: 1