Performance Improvement (MS) Curriculum

This advanced course examines how human behavior in organizations plays a crucial role in achieving organizational effectiveness, while simultaneously promoting positive human outcomes. This course is designed to introduce students to key theories and concepts, as well as practical applications related to the field of Organizational Behavior. While the course will focus on such pertinent issues as the behavioral science theories, and associated concepts, the course will emphasize such areas of concentration as, but will not limited to: personality, values, diversity, communication, leadership, attitudes, conflict management, motivation, group/team dynamics, and organizational culture. This course affords students both a firm theoretical background and foundation upon which to build, but likewise instructs and builds the practical skills necessary to understand and manage organizational behavior within a variety of milieus.

This course surveys the field of performance improvement by examining foundational concepts, theory and terminology. Students study theories and practices while exploring emerging directions of Human Performance Technology (HPT) that connect to their immediate reality.

Students investigate the history, theories, and application of knowledge of Human Performance Technology (HPT). Students apply human performance improvement principles to other disciplines including but not limited to total quality management, process improvement, behavioral psychology, instructional systems design, organizational development, and human resources management. Students also practice assessing alignment and performance gaps, creating process flows, and indentifying improvement opportunities within organizations.

This course uses instruments that set performance goals and targets and monitor progress. Additionally, the course provides an understanding of assessment strategies to ensure that goals are being accomplished and that appropriate interventions are implemented. Students apply measurement strategies to assess the progress and completion of organizational goals.

Students review the learning and development functions, processes, models, theories and theorists by examining how individual and organizational learning are interdependent. Students learn how to excel in seeing systems, collaborating across boundaries and move easily from solving problems to creating desired futures by understanding the role of motivation in the learning process which affects the individual and organizational performance.

Students examine the role of performance consulting and create a communication style in which effective consulting may occur. This course applies the history and knowledge of a process in which a client and a consultant partner to achieve the strategic outcomes of the organization. By focusing on a persuasive approach and the student's influence, emphasis is placed on the building of relationships and generating positive strategic organizational outcomes.

This course focuses on the human resource functions within an organization including recruitment, management and providing direction for the people who work in the organization. By effectively managing a workforce through human resources, students examine how organizational success is achieved. Students design recruitment, management and strategic HR system approaches for performance improvement.

This course applies one or more performance tools to investigate the reasons for performance deterioration. A four-step process will be used for implementing a performance analysis system. Skills are built in systematically identifying opportunity types, building analysis strategies, gathering data and reporting analysis results. By understanding the application of a structured model for performance analysis, the practice of investigation of performance deterioration emerges.

This course assesses the measuring activity when gauging performance improvement. Students plan an assessment activity, track the changes over time and evaluate the results, the opportunities for improvements and benefits of the outcomes. This comprehensive approach to evaluation offers students skills as efficient consultants who can leverage data in to a decision-making process.

This course analyzes the impact of computers and technology on organizational performance improvement. Students review large-scale, integrated application-software packages that use the computational, data storage and data transmission power of modern information technology to support processes, information flows, reporting and data analytics within and between complex organizations to understand the relationship of enterprise system to human performance.

This course compares and contrasts theories of how technology is used to help individuals learn effectively to enhance performance improvement. Additionally, the foundation of this course is studying learning theories and using technology to create problem-based training and development opportunities for individuals, teams and organizations. Students explore the influence of technical integration into learning, specifically training and development for the aim of improving organizational performance.

This course synthesizes and articulates comprehensive problem-solving abilities as performance improvement experts. Students customize a project, execute it and write the results in a final project.