The ART and SCIENCE of the ORGANIZATION
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Curriculum

Selecting Courses

The curriculum requirements for the MSOD program concern "categories" rather than specific courses. For example, while a student must select courses from the Foundations, Methods, and Applications categories, the choice of which courses are selected is up to the participant. Each semester, approximately 25-30 courses are offered of which 5 or 6 are available each evening, and 3 or 4 on Saturday. There are no introductory or advanced courses, all are in small (usually no more than 16 students) seminar format, and new courses are added regularly.

Students make course selections for many reasons including professional or personal relevance or interest; the unique disciplinary "lens" offered by a faculty member; desire to earn a certificate associated with a declared track/orientation; and the limitations of one's schedule or availability to attend classes.

The Program's academic advisors, faculty, other participants, and the website descriptions all offer means of gaining information about which courses are most likely to satisfy interests or to meet requirements for a concentration. Ultimately, however, it is the participant who is responsible for course selection and the design of an interesting and relevant education.

If you are currently enrolled in another graduate degree program at the University of Pennsylvania and wish to take courses in the Organizational Dynamics Program, please refer to the special instructions for non-Organizational Dynamics students for information.

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Course Requirements

Individual course requirements are provided in the syllabus describing each class. While obligations vary, they always include class attendance, readings, and the delivery of one or more papers. The ability to speak and write clearly and cogently are critical elements in each of the seminars.

A typical course may require one or more short papers and a longer final paper. Another may require a case study or group project with individual write-up. Another may require a critique of readings or an analysis of a specific organizational problem. There are no examinations or other "tests." Rather, participants are encouraged to use the written assignments as a way of applying the course material to their work settings in order to gain insight into a particular organization's culture, problems, and management issues.

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Courses Involving Travel

For most participants, global issues involving culture, communication, economics, labor, negotiation styles, joint ventures and acquisitions, or new markets are fundamental parts of their organizational lives. To support this, the MSOD Program offers seminars with a global focus, as well as seminars that take place in different parts of the United States and abroad.

Courses that incorporate global concerns travel from 1 - 3 days to U.S. cities such as New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, and San Francisco.

International Courses Abroad (ICA Seminars), each of which ranges from 7 - 14 days abroad, include travel to China, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Belgium, Greece, and other countries. Course requirements are similar to traditional classes in that they involve readings, interactive discussions, and written assignments. Classes meet at Penn before and after travel. During periods of travel, class activities include meetings with representatives from business, government, academia, and the arts; visits to various institutions and organizations; and individual time to become immersed in the culture. ICA Seminars permit a student to see and feel how another society, with its own institutions and culture, organizes and behaves.

See International Courses Abroad for general policies and information on the ICA program. Information on course costs for summer 2008 will be posted as soon as it becomes available.

Organizational Dynamics Projects

Organizational Dynamics Graduate Studies conducts applied research and other projects for organizations interested in our expertise as trans-disciplinary applied scholars. Projects are supervised and directed by faculty and program administrators and involve our professional adult graduate students. Project outcomes include defined organizational objectives and academic scholarship.

Our educational model for projects is collaborative. We prefer to work with rather than for the organization making the request. Where possible, members of the requesting organization become co-designers, co-teachers, and co-actors with our faculty and students during the project.

Students who wish to participate in an applied project may do so by contacting Dr. Barstow (and following permission by registering for DYNM 698 Learning-Based Laboratory). Students who register for DYNM 629 Organization Development or DYNM 603 Administrative Decision Making and Problem Solving with Dr. Starr will also have opportunities to participate in projects as part of their course activities.

2007-2008 Projects Available

Education and Interpretation Project for Flight 93 National Memorial

Collaborator:National Park Service
Faculty:Dr. Alan Barstow
Description: This project, which will be undertaken throughout the academic year, is to help the National Park Servics develop the education and interpretation program for the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, PA. The project will involve coding and evaluation of data and information gathered from site visitors, oral histories taken from first responders and family and friends of the passengers and crew of United Flight 93, as well as gathering data and information from the general public about sense-making and the meaning of the actions of the passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001.

Mantua Community Development

Collaborator: GlaxoSmithKline
Faculty: Dr. Larry Starr and Dr. Russell Ackoff
Description: In its second year, this project concerns the redesign and development of Mantua, a residential community on the border of the University of Pennsylvania. Involved and helping to supervise students is Dr. Russ Ackoff, Distinguished and Emeritus Professor of Management Science and Dr. Jason Magidson, Director of Innovation, GSK. Student participants become familiar with Ackoff's theory and methodology for change through interactive planning and organizational redesign and will work directly with members of the community as they design their own future. Interactive Planning is and has been used worldwide in corporations of every size and type including GSK; by governments including the US White House; NGOs and other nonprofit settings, as well as in communities and cities including Paris.

Global Coaching Project

Collaborator: Graduate School Alliance for Executive Coaching (GSAEC) and Foundation of Coaching
Faculty: Dr. Larry Starr and Dr. Bill Wilkinsky
Description: This project is designed to help build organizational and executive coaching into an professional academic discipline by (a) identifying all academic institutions (worldwide) that offer graduate-level programs in organizational and executive coaching, and (b) engaging leadership of these programs in a peer-review of a standardized graduate coaching curriculum.

Strategic Planning Project

Collaborator: Fairmont Soccer Association
Faculty: Dr. Alan Barstow
Description: This project is designed to engage members of a local sport organization in the process of identifying core values, interests and the nature of their community and stakeholders in order to develop a strategic plan that can effectively implemented.

Organization Development and Change Project

Collaborator: Academy of Management Committee of Organization Development Change
Faculty: Dr. Larry Starr
Description: This project, in its third year, is designed to help the Academy of Management's Organization Development and Change (ODC) Committee build community and academic excellence. The project involves identifying and describing ODC academic programs, interviewing senior faculty and administrators within them, building a web database that contains information about these programs, and helping to plan for the annual Professional Development Workshops held at the annual meetings.

2006 - 2007 Projects

Organizational Diagnosis and Evaluation of Relationships between HR Department and HR Internal Customers

Collaborator: Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA
Faculty: Dr. Alan Barstow and Dr. Dana Kaminstein

Team Business for Team Dynamics Simulation Project

Collaborator: Lauder Institute-Wharton School
Faculty: Dr. Alan Barstow

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dynamics@sas.upenn.edu