Helzberg School MA Foundation and Core Curriculum

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The MA foundation and core curriculum consists of 24 credit hours in management, organizational development, and leadership courses, along with a minimum of 9-10 credit hours in electives to complete the program. A majority of courses are two-credit hours taken in eight-week terms. Classes are held one evening per week on the Rockhurst campus, with some course options available online. The total credit hour requirement for the MA in Organizational Leadership is 33-34 credit hours (depending on the concentration).

Foundation Courses, 11 credit hours

• Compass Learning Community, MG 6110 (1 credit hour)
• Managerial Communications, MG 6008 (2 credit hours)
• Project Management, MG 6320 (2 credit hours)
• Corporate Social Responsibility, MG 6130 (2 credit hours)
• Business Intelligence, BIA 6300 (2 credit hours)
• Financial Decision Making for Managers, ACFN 6300 (2 credit hours)

Management Core Courses, 13 credit hours

• Organizational Behavior, MG 6310 (2 credit hours)
• Organizational Change, MG 6680 (2 credit hours)
• Business and Management Capstone, MG 6490 (3 credit hours)
• Human Resources and Managing People, MG 6380 (2 credit hours)
• Conflict Management, MG 6391(1 credit hour)
• Leadership, MG 6375 (2 credit hours)
• MG/MK elective (1 credit hour)

Students can select a concentration area, or take a mixture of 10 credit hours across all three concentration areas to receive a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership without a concentration. Classes meet once per week from 5:45 to 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday. See course descriptions below

Foundation Course Descriptions

MG 6110. Compass Learning Community (1 credit hour)

This course provides an orientation to Rockhurst, the Helzberg School of Management and the MBA program. It discusses the distinct traditions, values and principles of Jesuit education in light of their connection to the MBA program. Students receive an introduction to adult-learning theory, personal development, business ethics and the team concept. Students complete a number of assessment instruments and begin assignments that they continue to develop and re-engage in subsequent courses. Prerequisite: Students must take this course during the first semester of the program.

MG 6320. Project Management (2 credit hours)

This course introduces students to the process of project management that includes planning, implementation, progress measurement and performance, results and evaluation. Students will learn the knowledge, skills and technical tools for identifying project requirements, establishing project objectives and scheduling, balancing constraints and resources, and considering the needs and expectations of key stakeholders. Students will learn the trade-offs and balance of project scope, resources and schedule and will learn how to compose an effective project management team. Producing project documentation, such as scope, requirements, design, and testing documentation.

MG 6130. Corporate Social Responsibility (2 credit hours)

Corporate social responsibility is the formation and stewardship of policies and processes that lead to a culture of good decision making.  The scope of these decisions impacts both the very functioning of the company and its constituencies and the society in which the firm exists. Stakeholder analysis plays an important role in the course not only in examination of internal business decisions and processes, but also externally in understanding, anticipating, and incorporating impacts and responses from social, governmental, and environmental actors into decision making.

BIA 6300. Business Intelligence (2 credit hours)

Business leaders must have the ability to collect and interpret information concerning customers, suppliers, and competitors, and make decisions that affect their company's performance. Business intelligence is a set of methodologies, processes, architectures, and technologies that transform raw data into meaningful and useful information to enable more effective strategic, tactical, and operational insights and decision-making with an emphasis on knowledge management. Using the case study approach in combination with contemporary software tools, students will apply the concepts of business process analysis, quality control and improvement, performance monitoring through performance dashboards and balanced scorecards, and process simulation.

ACFN 6300. Financial Decision Making for Managers (2 credit hours)

This course is an investigation of financial decision making in business, government, and not-for-profit organizations. Emphasis is on the application of financial and nonfinancial information to a wide range of management decisions, from product pricing and budgeting to project analysis and performance measurement. A variety of decision-making tools such as break-even analysis, activity-based costing procedures, contribution margins, budgeting and the balanced scorecard are included. Emphasis is also placed on preparing financial information to request new capital, personnel or projects. This course will focus on the interpretation and use of basic financial information by non-financial managers, not on the production of financial statements and reports. Only open to students enrolled in the Masters in Management program.

Management Core Course Descriptions

MG 6310. Organizational Behavior (2 credit hours)

The course increases students’ awareness of organizational processes and practices, including leadership, management, motivation, morale, group dynamics, interpersonal communications, conflict, and group problem-solving. The course provides conceptual insights and behavioral skills needed for successful leadership of continuous improvement in individual, team, and organizational performance.

MG 6680. Organizational Change (2 credit hours)

Change management within modern organizations, whether public, private or not-for-profit, is a complex process with many moving parts. The larger an organization becomes the greater the complexity. This course focuses on the fundamental assessments, tools, processes and interventions used to identify, agree upon, and enact a successful change initiative. Using an integrated learning model, students will explore and apply these principles on both written and live case studies. Specifically, the following will be addressed: multiple models of the change process (techno-structural, human systems, balanced metrics), tools of organizational analysis, methods for overcoming stakeholder resistance, and techniques for ensuring buy-in and support from people at all levels of the organization. 

MG 6490 - Business and Management Capstone (3 credit hours)

In this capstone experience, students integrate and apply learnings gained in mentoring, self-assessment and the more functionally based courses in their graduate program. Key processes include integrative case study, classroom practitioner interactions, consultative team projects, the leadership credo event, and focus on the dynamics of organizational change and strategy implementation. Summative learning assessment is accomplished through completion of integrative writing assignments and assessment of team projects by a panel of faculty and business practitioners. This course should be taken within the last semester of the program.

MG 6380 - HR and Managing People (2 credit hours)

This course focuses on the best practices of supervision and ways of effectively partnering with HR, including: communicating with employees, planning and delegating to individuals, leading the team, building trust and respect, motivating performance, intercultural communication, evaluating performance, coaching to improve performance, developing and maintaining discipline, and managing conflict. 

MG 6391 - Conflict Management (1 credit hour)

This course explores the nature of conflict, including interpersonal conflict, organizational conflict, conflict styles, intercultural communication, and the function conflict plays in organizations. Particular emphasis is placed on the role leaders can play in addressing conflict to help organizations function more effectively. Students will learn skills to help others resolve conflict, and strategies to help them be more effective as negotiators. 

MG 6375 - Leadership (2 credit hours)

Leadership plays an important role in organizations. This course examines the function of leadership at the organizational level and explores how students might individually prepare to assume organizational leadership roles. The course reviews the leading theories of leadership and challenges students to apply these theories to specific organizational contexts. Students will also examine the unique challenges facing organizational leaders today, including the challenges faced by top-level leaders within a global context. Prerequisite: MG 6310

MG/MK Elective (1 credit hour)

Choose an approved 1 credit hour elective that is either a Management (MG) or Marketing (MK) elective course.

Additional Programs

For more information about the suite of graduate business programs from Helzberg, please click here: School of Management Programs.