The Dissertation is the capstone module for the course, which integrates the taught materials and tests the students’ depth of understanding of the field and their ability to work independently within it. For the Dissertation, students work individually with a supervisor on a project related to their specialization. The Dissertation topic is chosen in consultation with the supervisor and work cannot commence until an individual and formally written Dissertation Proposal have been accepted by the university.

The modern business enterprise must manage in a world defined by uncertainty, emerging realities, and a high level of unpredictability. The value of planning and of linear management has been greatly undermined as a globalized economy grows more and more complex. The ability to think, rather than plan, strategy, to understand leadership as a forward-looking and dynamic function, and to value people as strategic capital of an organization will be recurrent themes in this course.

This module provides a theoretical foundation and a set of practical tools for the development of creative environments, management of innovation, and the change associated with it, both in corporate settings and start-up situations. For the purposes of the module innovation is defined as the profitable commercialization of a new idea: product, market, process, or technology.

This course will prepare students to think strategically about advocacy strategies, leverage points, and resources for change. Students will focus on the nature of power in its various forms (electoral power, issue framing, financial, citizen mobilization, public opinion) and explore how power and resources can be acquired, evaluated, mobilized and deployed in the service of promoting a policy agenda.  Students will use a variety of methodologies, including case studies, to learn how to intervene consciously and responsibly in the civic life of communities: elections, budgeting processes, legislative and regulatory processes, and the ways to influence and to marshal public opinion for the common good.

Students will become proficient in current methods of conducting research in the field: problem definition, construction of hypotheses, research design, sampling, data collection and evaluation, and interpretation of findings.

In this module students will explore the conditions that promote viable enterprises and increased employment in the community. Topics include: Principles of Economic Development and Growth (community history and community growth potential, the role of business, labor, & jobs, building sustainable systems, social capital); the Role of Community-Based Institutions (community support organizations, sources of funding); Economic Development Planning (local economic development incentives, building public/private collaboratives); The Economic Influence of Neighborhood and Building Design; and Measuring Economic Growth (data sources, methodology).

Students will study the interaction between the social, natural, and built environments and the ways in which they affect the economic, social and environmental sustainability of communities. Special emphasis will be given to neighborhood and residential environments. This module will be taught by an inter-disciplinary team of instructors.

Students will learn how to promote advocacy through the media and to stage social-marketing campaigns to further goals and objectives commonly desired by a community or communities. We do understand the power of the media in today’s world, and we are aware of the level of sophistication achieved in marketing processes. The combination of both (media advocacy at the social level and marketing at the personal level) can be extremely effective in fostering social change. Great emphasis will be given to ethical issues and dilemmas that derive from the use of these two powerful tools.

Students learn negotiation and leadership skills for managing differences. The course uses a group relation perspective on the behavior of groups and of individuals in groups to understand negotiation dynamics. The course also studies the nature of conflict, how to handle two or multi-party conflicts, and the impact of mediators on negotiations. It blends skill-building exercises, theory discussions, and dialogue.

This course focuses on the management of social services with an emphasis on how strong management can improve results. Exposes students to management thought and philosophy as applied to different social service and social policy challenges within various operating environments and programmatic settings.