Curriculum

Effective leaders routinely take the pulse of their organization and know what it means. They develop a “sixth sense” about what works and what does not. Students assess how leaders influence organizational behavior and the various systems – individual, group, and culture – that contribute to the successful operation of today’s multifaceted service agencies. Through readings, case studies, and simulations, students compare organizational behaviors – including internal communication, quality control, and marketing – to activities in their own agencies. Students employ proven and innovative approaches to assessing organizations and developing ways to accomplish defined goals and tasks. This course includes a field experience.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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The methods used by leaders to determine if a program has accomplished its intended purpose vary from a brief informal assessment to a highly structured evaluation system. Knowing how to assess a program, function, or situation is not an inherent trait. It encompasses skills that must be learned and nurtured. Many agencies go outside for these skills and spend large amounts on consultants to provide program assessment. Students apply various strategies for evaluating and analyzing programs to functions within their own organizations. They delve into problem-solving models and develop competence in using computer-based statistical and data base software.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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In too many organizations, the term “quality” has become little more than an overused and abused buzzword. Its meaning has been lost to hype. Yet, there are enduring principles to creating and maintaining quality within organizations, such as Deming’s theory of profound knowledge and Juran’s approach to continuous quality improvement. Students discuss theories and notions of quality and its application to various organizational settings. Through several famous corporate and government cases, students apply techniques drawn from diverse models designed to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and value. Through readings and discussion, students explore the success and failure of past systems and movements such as total quality movement.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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Learning through the experience of others is one of the best tools in a leader’s toolbox to build personal skills and organizational strength. Case studies from the public and private sector provide an opportunity for students to examine how organizations work and how managers deal with complex issues in policy making, human resources, resource allocation, field operations, marketing their organization, and more. Through the application of leadership principles learned in previous classes and new ones offered in this course, the class critiques and debates approaches and solutions to a series of cases. Through reading and analyzing case studies, participating in class discussions, and interacting with guest lecturers, students identify strategies for solving problems faced by individuals and organizations. Students identify and present examples from their own agencies relevant to the case studies. Students gain and demonstrate critical thinking skills as they apply their experience to solving the cases presented in class. This course includes a field experience.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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As a culminating course, students discuss the major issues that recurred throughout the entire curriculum and the creative solutions they developed to deal with these issues. This course is designed to draw upon the knowledge students gained in previous courses and apply it to improving the quality of both their organizations and services provided to local communities, the region, and the nation. Students develop an array of new leadership tools and learn how to apply them to improving the quality of life for those they serve. Through a review of literature, readings, lectures, dialogue, and debate, students apply the principles of enlightened leadership to challenges facing their organizations. Through individual, group, and class projects, students develop a course of action to affect positive change in their organization and/or current assignment.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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Successful leaders understand and manage differences that go far beyond traditional or stereotypical diversity-related issues. They monitor, analyze, and manage differences stemming from the organization’s internal hierarchy, units with conflicting functions, different agencies, different levels of government, and more. If ignored, these differences may erupt into behavior that hurts all concerned. Students assess differences in goals, values, beliefs, function, rank, race, gender, personality, and more. They discuss factors that drive tolerance and intolerance. Students apply techniques for overcoming behaviors that block individual, community, and organizational effectiveness in diverse settings. Through readings, case studies, and group activities, students compare various strategies for providing quality service to diverse communities.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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At any given moment, the simplest of situations – a traffic stop, construction accident, inclement weather, sports event – may cause a crisis for a leader and his or her agency. How a leader communicates during a crisis can escalate or diffuse a potential disaster. Political leaders, the community, the media, and others view how a leader copes with a crisis as a measure of his or her success. Through case studies and discussion with public safety leaders, students apply a variety of techniques toward identifying, preventing, assessing, and managing events so that they do not become communications crises. Students emphasize both internal and external communication in their response to crisis situations presented in class.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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At some point, every employee assumes a role as leader. For some, regardless of his or her rank of position within the hierarchy, this is a daily role. Are leaders made or born? Are there hidden and obvious messages embedded in times past that provide an answer? Are the characteristics of effective leaders truly timeless? Are there lessons in classic literature to guide today’s leaders? Through discussion and debate, readings from great literature, review of classic films, and more, students discover the themes, strengths, and weaknesses of leaders who have claimed a place in history. Students relate these discoveries to the issues, challenges, and demands they face in today’s increasingly complex work environment. This course includes a portfolio review.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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What is the new archetype for managers and leaders? Are good statistical performance and absence of problems going to prevail as primary indicators of a supervisor or executive’s success in providing public service? Do organizations truly learn or do they simply copy or adopt in-vogue programs for the sake of expediency? Students grapple with the answers to these and others questions about the state of management in the nation’s private, government, and nonprofit sectors. They consider factors such as competition, imagination, innovation, special interest groups, changing demands for service, influence of labor, politics, and more in determining how to lead their personnel to accomplish defined tasks. New definitions of structure and function are explored.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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The diversity of today’s workforce – from young entry-level employees to those with long-term experience – presents an array of complex issues to leaders who require specific performance behaviors in the workplace. In this course, students focus on the learning theory and developmental needs of adults in individual and group learning situations, and on the instructional strategies that precipitate learning. This course reinforces the role of leader as teacher. Students explore the construction of outcomes-based programs built on the performance needs of their organization. Classroom activities will model the type of education required for adult learners. Students evaluate the effectiveness of training efforts in their own organization, as well as educational programs offered to the public, and produce instructional materials suited for the adult learner. Topics addressed through lectures, discussions, and readings include characteristics of older and younger adults, managing young and older workers, effect of personal relationships on the job, willingness to learn, understanding and diffusing anger, and more. Students will be able to apply the principles and practices presented in this class to creating a learning organization.

Notes: This course is only available to students enrolled in Division of Public Safety Leadership programs. (3 credits)

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