Curriculum

Executing Strategic Change provides theories, concepts, tools, and practices for the effective design and execution of strategic change efforts in organizations, governments, and communities. Emphasis is placed on the potential impacts of change efforts on different stakeholder groups, and their combined impact on the change process. The practice of change management is considered from macro, micro, and systems points of view.

Topics

1. Organizational culture
2. Stakeholder analysis
3. Change agents and change roles
4. Change models and frameworks
5. Change timeline and stages

Benefits

• Apply your knowledge of organizations, learning and strategic change concepts to independently analyze, diagnose and respond to potential barriers during the implementation and adoption phases of a change process.
• Understand the challenges and complexities of incorporating significant change at the individual, team, and organizational levels.
• Learn to anticipate and identify potential reactions to change in order to build the proper change process and interventions.

Instructors

• Ahmmad Brown
• Vanessa Seiden

Leading Global Change builds on Executing Strategic Change and focuses on the application of change management methods and concepts in organizations that are complex and require cross-cultural competencies in a global setting. Students will develop their understanding and awareness of the demands that leaders face when designing and implementing solutions that impact individuals and teams from multiple countries, of diverse backgrounds, and in a variety of operating contexts. Particular attention is given to how inequality along social identity categories can manifest in organizational contexts, and how change management efforts can address these inequalities.

Topics

1. Individual differences across cultures in preferences, styles, and personality
2. Bias and stereotypes in the workplace
3. Working effectively in diverse contexts
4. Influence without authority
5. Change complexity when working in multinational and matrix organizations
6. Organizational agility, diversity, and cross-cultural competence in the workplace

Benefits

• Apply a cross-cultural competency development framework to improve individual, team, and organizational performance in different contexts.
• Design and modify organizational change plans to ensure successful implementation of initiatives across cultures.
• Understand how “diversity” is defined across cultures and assess diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives for implications of implementing policies/processes in different countries. Be aware of relevant laws (e.g., EEO) and policies (e.g., affirmative action) that impact organizational interventions across countries.
• Lead culture change from the “inside” and “outside” (e.g., consultant vs. internal practitioner; majority vs. minority culture—e.g., local vs. headquarter)

Instructors

• Ahmmad Brown
• Ritu Tripathi

Prerequisites

• MSLOC 440: Executing Strategic Change

Developing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice focuses on individual identities in the context of systemic and structural inequities and their effects on organizations. Emphasis is placed on the analysis and discussion of the impact on bias, discrimination, power, privilege, and oppression on individual and systemic levels. Students will explore and discuss their own individual-level identities (race, gender, LGBTQ+, age, ethnicity, class, culture, etc.) as well as their own lived or witnessed experiences with inclusion, exclusion, belonging, bias, harassment, ally support, and bystander actions and inactions.

Topics

1. Individual-level identities (race, gender, LGBTQ+, age, ethnicity, class, culture, etc.)
2. Inclusion and exclusion
3. Harassment and bias
4. Ally support and bystander action and inaction

Benefits

• Engage in thoughtful discussions and problem-solving about impacts of social identities in and out of the workplace.
• Apply developmental theory to at the individual and group / team levels.
• Identify and analyze the impact of power structures on the micro level.
• Act as a strategic partner and advocate to advance an organizational culture of inclusion, equity and engagement.

Instructors

• Kourtney Cockrell
• Kelly C. Weiley

Leading Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Organizations is the capstone course for the LEIOC program. Focusing on practice of DEI work, including assessment, strategic planning, initiative alignment, measurement, and changing an organization’s system, students integrate the tools they have learned in previous courses and refine their approach to DEI practice. The course culminates with a LEIOC Design Project in which students work in teams to prototype and test a solution for a DEI challenge or pain point faced by a client organization.

Topics

1. Assessment of organization's current DEIJ maturity level
2. Identification and measurement of key DEIJ success indicators
3. Strategic planning
4. Initiative alignment
5. Systems-level change

Benefits

• Assess organizations’ commitment to DEIJ and the efficacy of DEIJ initiatives.
• Adjust your approach as a change leader to meet organizations where they are and manage push-back.
• Understand the range of social justice initiatives that you will encounter as a DEIJ practitioner.
• Develop a DEIJ plan that aligns with an organizations’ strategic vision, values, and business plan.
• Design a "playbook" of tools and resources as well as a thorough understanding of benefits and challenges of each and when it is most appropriate to use specific tools.

Instructors

• Ahmmad Brown
• Renetta McCann

Prerequisites

• MSLOC 440: Executing Strategic Change
• MSLOC 442: Leading Global Change
• MSLOC 425: Developing for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice

LEIOC cohort members participate in several Intergroup dialogue (IGD) sessions together in the summer and fall quarters. In addition to supporting community building, IGD sessions promote students’ exploration of their individual identities and how they influence their approaches to DEI work. IGD sessions reinforce the importance of the strategic use of multiple forms of communication (dialogue, discussion, and debate) in engaging DEI work.

Drawing on the IDI Assessment framework and your individual assessment results, you will work with an experienced DEI practitioner to develop your individual DEI learning goals, articulate a plan to achieve these goals, and receive tailored support as you proceed through your LEIOC journey and develop as a DEI leader.

Using the design thinking approach, LEIOC participants work in teams to help a client address a DEI challenge with a client. Beginning with the discovery process in the winter quarter in which teams interview key stakeholders with the client organization, the Design Project continues through the spring quarter in MSLOC 445 (Leading Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice in Organizations) with the prototyping of solutions for the client, the receipt of client of feedback, and the final presentation of a prototype for the client. Read this story about our Design Project work with The Chicago Shakespeare Theater.