The following reflects the courses Kenric has currently taken while pursuing his masters in Leadership and Organizational Performance through Vanderbilt University:

Overview: The LOP program curriculum aligns leadership theory with contemporary leadership practices. In the program, students build knowledge and sharpen competencies that can be applied in for-profit, non-profit, government, and educational organizations. The LOP Competencies have been identified from current and leading research, and encompass areas of effectiveness in critical thinking, organizational analysis, talent management, interpersonal skills, research literacy, and leading and managing people and organizations.

Structure and Delivery: Most LOP students pursue their degrees full time (9 credit hours per semester) over the course of two years (four semesters). LOP courses typically meet during the week, usually in the evenings (4:10-7:00pm), with select courses occasionally offered in weekend classes three times throughout a given semester. With this course offering schedule, many students find they can also pursue part-time employment.

Curriculum Requirements: Students will complete 36 credit hours consisting of a variety of required courses as well as elective course. In addition, the summer between student’s first and second years will be spent participating in a summer practicum or internship. This experience will be utilized in a required course for the fall semester of their second year.

Core Courses:

  LOP 6110 Organizational Theory and Behavior

Explores both traditional and contemporary theories of organizations. Links organizational theory and behavior to leadership and requires an analysis of the major issues (e.g., change, gender, ethics, effectiveness) that modern complex organizations face.

  LOP 6120 Learning Organizations

Examines the interacting elements of learning organizations, such as horizontal structure, employee empowerment, information sharing, emergent strategy, and strong culture. Explores the characteristics of organizations with long-term success.

LOP 6130 Strategy and Analytics I

This interdisciplinary skill development course is designed to introduce students to the critical accounting, financial, strategic and analytical tools (including Excel) needed to understand how organizations work and to evaluate how well they are performing. It is structured as a hands-on course and students will use start-up organizations and strategies (for-profit, not-for-profit, and public sector) as a microcosm in which to explore the analytics of effective organizational performance.

LOP 6140 Strategy and Analytics II

This intermediate level course uses a hands-on approach to study how accounting, financial and analytical tools can be used to enhance the performance of for-profits, not-for-profits, and the public sector. Students will improve their ability to: evaluate quantitative results, identify performance improvement strategies, develop charts and presentations to communicate organizational performance, and make effective decisions. Prerequisite: LOP 6130

 LOP 7990 Applied Experience

The Applied Experience in the Leadership and Organizational Performance program challenges students to integrate knowledge acquired through coursework, apply it to a supervised field experience, and reflect on their personal leadership development as well as an organization’s performance. The intent of the applied experience is to allow the students to synthesize learning while expanding or deepening content knowledge. Students will develop a critically appraised topic (CAT) (and asses the quality of the research on this topic to write an applied research paper or case study in the area of their choice. In addition, the student has the opportunity to develop and refine the necessary competencies and skills for proposed career objectives in a field of interest through reflective leadership assignments.

Elective Courses:

  LOP 6100 Leadership Theory and Behavior

Introduction to the nature of organizational leadership. Focus on the behavior of individuals and small groups in organizations, with special attention to the role of formal and informal leaders. A major goal of the course is to enable students to reflect on themselves as leaders in conjunction with findings from research, theory, and experience.

  LOP 6200 Learning and Performance in Organizations

Theories of learning with emphasis on adult learning and development and implications for learning and performance leaders in organizational settings including private sector organizations, colleges, universities, and schools.

  LOP 6230 Consultation Skills

A skills-oriented course with focus on consultation skills both internal and external to organizations. Topics include the consulting roles; consulting phases; contracting and scoping a project including a response to RFPs, RFQs, and executing letters of engagement; diagnosing presenting problems; managing resistance; constructing recommendations; managing feedback meetings; project management fundamentals; consulting ethics and; the business of consulting. Students will engage with community partners from various industries and sectors to practice skill development based on the topics of the course.

  LOP 6230 Organizational Development

The study of broad change in organizations as it relates to leading and managing human performance. Course focus is on diagnosis, examination of OD interventions, criteria for selecting interventions, group process consulting design & implementation of interventions, and monitoring of system-wide change issues in organizations.

LOP 6290 Talent Management

This course examines the processes an organization uses to attract, retain, motivate and develop the best people for their jobs. Students will study organizational recruitment, retention, engagement, succession planning, and employee development from two perspectives: the organization’s leader and the organization’s talent management professionals.