Areas of Specialization
Organizational and Community Change
The organizational and community change specialization is a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector approach to the theory and practice of transforming organizations and communities in a technologically advanced and global economy.
Students will have an opportunity to develop knowledge and competencies appropriate to the advanced study and diagnosis of evolving and emerging organizations and communities in the public, private, and nonprofit arena. They will find a curriculum supportive of careers in academics, management, and consulting.
The Organizational and Community Change specialization:
- Emphasizes the dynamic and non-linear nature of change
- Focuses on multiple levels of analyses of change
- Stresses the action-research and psychodynamic orientation of change
- Gives students the opportunity to analyze organizations and communities in the field or through case studies
- Explores in-depth the role of a change agent
In addition to the MPA core courses, the following courses are required:
- PA 8610 Group Dynamics and Conflict Resolution
- Focuses on the study of group psychology in the context of communities and organizations. It provides a specific examination of the emergence and resolution of conflict.
- PA 8620 Organizational Analysis and Change
- Investigates processes and methodologies of organizational diagnosis, intervention strategies, and the role of a change agent.
- PA 8630 Organizational Change in a Community and Global Context
- Examines changing organizations in their task environments, which include communities and the global economy. The phenomenon of ambiguous boundaries between public and private as well as nonprofit sectors will be investigated as these profound changes impact organizational behavior.
Two elective courses may be selected from the following:
- PA 8320 Spatial Analysis for Public Affairs
- PA 8410 Public Policy Workshop
- PA 8420 Public Program Evaluation
- PA 8430 Public Policy Analysis
- PA 8510 Public Budgeting and Taxation
- PA 8520 Human Resource Management and Development in the Public and Nonprofit Sector
- PA 8530 Strategic Planning and Performance Measurement
- PA 8540 Local Government Management
- PA 8710 The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector
- PA 8720 Financial Management in the Public and Nonprofit Sector
- PA 8850 Policies and Institutions of the European Union