Degree Requirements:
Completion Time: 1.5 years
Earned Credits: 36
In this accelerated, 18-month global workforce collaboration program, students learn to work within different systems—fostering innovative collaboration among dispersed and diverse teams across time zones, cultures, and global organizational networks. In addition to engaging with their peers and professors at select, in-person Residential Conferences, M.A. in Leadership and Management students learn through our vibrant online community—covering such topics as:
- Global organizational cultures
- Supply chain management dynamics
- Distributed workplace environments and systems
- Virtual collaborative management processes and practices
- Organizational networks and knowledge management systems
Contemporary organizations are often multinational, employing talent from many corners of the globe. This specialization enables the manager to become adept at leading in the multinational, multicultural organizations. Many of these skills are also applicable to leaders advancing in domestic markets that interact with global concerns or have diverse workforces.
Graduates of the M.A. in Leadership and Management: Specialization in Global Workforce Collaboration program will become part of an extended network of students, faculty, and scholars—creating sustainable solutions that enable international teams to work more efficiently with global collaboration. Prepared to find solutions for organizational challenges, M.A. in Leadership and Management graduates will be prepared to work with professionals from different cultures, establishing engaging working relationships with team members across the world. Learn how this program prepares graduates for careers in management, leadership, or consultation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
More program information can be found in our Academic Catalog.
Residential Requirements
Participation in three five-day Residential Conferences (RC) is required. Students must attend the RC each semester they are enrolled except for summer. Dates are announced well in advance so students have time to plan for and prioritize the required participation.
Course Requirements
The 12 courses are taken in a prescribed sequence. All courses are 3 credits, comprising the 36 credits required to graduate. Coursework must be evaluated as equivalent to B or better at the graduate level to earn credit.
Course Participation
Satisfactory “class attendance” in online courses requires students to log into the university’s online course site multiple times during the week to participate in discussions and other learning activities. Course syllabi indicate their specific participation requirements.
Dispersed Workforce Characteristics, Environments, and Issues
Managing a global workforce requires a wide variety of leadership qualities and talent management skills, including the ability to identify, understand, analyze, and address complex workplace issues from a social systems perspective. It also involves developing a cosmopolitan mindset and understanding how world issues impact the organization’s operations and workplace dynamics. This course examines the core characteristics of a global workforce and the complex business, political, economic, and social issues that managers routinely face while developing students’ leadership and managerial skills in creatively resolving challenging workplace situations in an ethical and sustainable manner. 3 credits
Social Network Analysis, Partnership Facilitation, and Conflict Resolution
While critically examining managerial concepts and challenges related to establishing engaged social networks in a distributed organization, this course has a “practical application” format, providing students an opportunity to creatively experiment with and practically apply the concepts and practices examined in MAM 8003 and 8005 to organizational settings. It enables the further development of students’ own virtual global perspectives while integrating new learning into their existing professional management approaches and workplace practices. With organizational behavior and social psychology as the background, a particular focus is given to how managers can develop vibrant knowledge sharing organizational dynamics, establish organizational partnerships, analyze organizational networks, implement innovative virtual work environments and meetings, and handle organizational conflict. 3 credits
Managing Across Cultures
While critically examining intercultural managerial concepts and challenges, this course has a “practical application” format, providing students an opportunity to creatively experiment with and practically apply the concepts and practices examined in MAM 8003 and 8008 to organizational settings. It enables the further development of students’ own global leadership perspectives while integrating new learning into their professional management approaches and workplace practices. With emotional and cultural intelligence as a background, there is a particular focus on how to realistically address the challenges created by distributed organizations and a global workforce, including how to effectively communicate across cultures, develop vibrant intercultural work environments, collaborative work relationships and teams, and address cross-cultural workplace conflict. 3 credits