Organizational Dynamics (DYNM)
DYNM 5010 Perspectives on Organizational Dynamics
"Perspectives" is both a fundamental and integrating course intended for MSOD students at any point in the program who wish to understand and deploy a multiplicity of dynamics operative in organizations and in the minds that create and inhabit them. It is particularly useful for those in their first year and for non-MSOD students. One key focus is on understanding the implicit mental and emotional frameworks or metaphors that "inform" organizing so that we can virtually see more robust and complex approaches to effectiveness and to leadership within them. Several faculty members highlight their specialties. One special theme examines new management models and thinking frameworks designed to prevail in a 21st century context. Lectures, discussion, and experiential learning are used to build an informed grounding in the history, philosophy, theory and practice of Organizational Dynamics. The course requirements are active class participation, potential application projects/weekly journal, a midterm paper and a final paper. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 5420 Theories, Models, and Practices that Inform Coaching
This course will examine how theory guides the effective practice of coaching. Students will be introduced to a theory and model that encompasses a multi-disciplinary approach to coaching in an organizational setting. With this framework as a basis, students will select, research, and present a theoretical model of their own choosing and design a coaching application that demonstrates theory in action. Students will leave the course with an array of theoretical frameworks and practical techniques that will enhance their own coaching capabilities as managers and consultants. Undergraduates may enroll in 500-level courses only with permission of the instructor. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 5510 Devil's Advocate: The Power of Divergent Thinking
Short-term or long-term? Us or them? Build or buy? Margin or volume? My way or the highway! Ad infinitum, apparent forced choices--or no choice--and limited perspectives can create costly tugs of war or constricted judgment without our minds (and hearts) and in organization dynamics, persuasive, and often hidden, divergence in thinking offers great opportunity for learning, creativity, and sound decision-making. This course offers several robust, practical techniques for bringing the value of diverse perspectives in politically productive ways to leadership thinking, communications, and organization dynamics. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 5550 The Idea of Nationalism
Nationalism has been the most important geo-political phenomenon of the past two hundred years. Its continuing power has been amply demonstrated by recent events in many parts of the world. The principle of national self- determination and closely related notions of individualism and human rights shape the global context in which businesses, governments, organizations, and individuals must operate in the 21st century. This seminar course will explore the ideology of nationalism through the lens of institutions and organizationscorporations, nonprofits, government, NGOs, unions, religious communities, etc. Starting with concrete examples from students own experiences and the contemporary conflicts confronting governments, organizations, and businesses, we will examine the ideology of nationalism, its meaning and content, its philosophical foundations, its underlying assumptions about the nature of human identity, and its contemporary expressions in nationalist movements and ethno-political conflicts around the world. In the process, we will explore such questions as: What is a nation? Does every identifiable ethnic or national group have a valid claim to a nation-state of its own? How are claims to national self-determination justified? Why do nationalist movements seem so often to engender political extremism and violent ethno-political conflicts? Is national self- determination compatible with our commitments to individualism, rationality, and universal human rights? What are the best strategies to cope with the persistence of nationalism in the 21st century? Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 5580 Social Media and the Organization
This course explores the use of social media platforms in organizations to achieve varied goals. The course covers topics such as how to use social media for marketing and advertising, how to create and manage social media content, and how to engage with customers and stakeholders on social media platforms. We will explore the virtual, visual, and AI tools that can create a social media campaign. In addition, the course provides academic preparation on the social neuroscience behind the ways that social media platforms attract, engage, and use information generated by user content for their own purposes. This includes the impact of social media on organizational communication and culture, including issues related to privacy, data security, and online reputation management. Students will develop skills in social media strategy development, content creation, and community management, as well as critical thinking and analysis. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6010 Gender, Power, and Leadership in Organizations
For the last severl years, issues related to gender in organizations and organizational leadership have not been hot topics of discussionin the popular media, in organizations themselves, or in academia. That is no longer true. The advent of #metoo and the revelation of sexual harassment in corporations, government sector organizations, and nonprofits has highlighted the ways in which those with more power have been using their power to both harass and silence their victims, many of whom are women--although this dynamic is true for others belonging to groups with less power. Addressing these issues effectively will require more than lawsuits and more than sexual harassment and bystander training. This course will explore what will be required if we are to have organizations that effectively leverage the skills and talents of both men and women. Although in the last 30 years there has been some significant progress made in placing women in leadership roles in organizations, we will take a deep look at the data about where and how gender differences continue to exist in organizations including differences in both professional and outcomes. This class will examine the social, cultural, and structural dynamics within organizations that unintentionally, but differentially, affect women and men. In particular, we will consider how men and women are viewed, how their contributions are evaluated, and the opportunities that are available to them. Specific topics that will be addressed include exploration of theories explaning the development of gender identity and related behaviors that appear to be gender-based; the social construction of gender; the intersectionality of gender, race, and class in terms of power and organizational dynamics; the various explanations for gender differences in organizational life; the theories that connect gender and leadership; policies and practices that reinforce gendered dynamics; how sexual harassment, long illegal, has quietly persisted in organizations and why now new instances of harassment are being revealed nearly every day; methods for understanding the multiple sources of gender inequities in organizations; and methods for changing organizations to create equiity in terms of the roles and treatment of women and men. The seminar will involve a sustantial amount of reading from required books and articles. Assignments will focus on students' examination and assessment of gender-linked dynamics in their own workplaces. Classroom time will be structuredin a seminar format, including presentation of material by the instructor, group discussions of readings, experiential learning activities, student presentations, and group discussions, and examination of students' own organizational experiences as they relate to the course material. A significant portion of the learning will result from discussions in class, so attendance is important. The course is structured to first address the development of a theoretical framework for understanding gender issues in the workplace from personal, interpersonal, group, and organizational perspectives. During the second section of the course, we will explore more specific ways inw hich policies and practices have differential effects on employees and managers by virtue of gender. In the last section, we will focus on alternative conceptualizations, structures, policies, and practices that could enable both men and women to be successful in the workplace and to avoid gender-based inequities. In this last section we will specifically discuss interventions and strategies for enhancing gender equity. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6020 Leader-Manager as Coach
New work technologies, increased competition, and employees' desire for more involvement in their work are changing the traditional role of the manager. Rather than directing, planning, and controlling the work, managers and leaders are facilitating processes and coaching and developing their employees. Team-based organizations are built on coaching as a core requirement of the team leader role. This course explores the theory and practices of individual coaching as leadership behavior. The focus is on helping managers develop their skills and improve their performances as coaches. We will examine the need to provide others with successful performance strategies, timely feedback on strengths and on development needs, and growth opportunities in order to challenge others to reach their potential. We will explore workplace environments that foster the growth and achievement of those we lead. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your permission request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6030 Leading Emergence: Creating Adaptive Space in Response to Complex Challenges
This seminar is designed to be highly experiential so that participants can engage in the practices necessary to enable innovation and adaptation. Participants will examine emergent innovation theory by addressing the dynamics and conditions in which ideas emerge in an informal manner, garner organizational attention, and gain momentum towards becoming successful innovations or bold changes within complex organizations. This will include examining the need for adaptive space in generating value that drives growth by enabling an environment of idea generation, entrepreneurship and innovation while leveraging the benefits of existing, formal systems to scale these ideas. Participants will explore and engage in such topics as creative experimentation, idea emergence, organizational network analysis, social capital, design thinking, organizational analytics and complexity leadership. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your permission request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6050 Organizational Project Risk and Uncertainty
DYNM 605 is a uniquely blended content of thought leadership vetted by subject matter experts worldwide adapted to today's constraints and challenges of virtual communications. This participant-centered set of seminars is an opportunity to increase both awareness and knowledge of risk and uncertainty by examining causes of unexpected events in predictive (classic) and adaptive (agile) project frameworks. Successful applications of non-deterministic approaches are explored as antidotes to constrained command and control project environments. Course content is valuable in roles, organizations, and sectors of all types. Prominent project/operational risk management methodologies are included in this seminar. Processes advanced by the Project Management Institute, AACE International, U.K. Association for Project Management, International Council on Systems Engineering, and by the International Organization for Standardization are contrasted with industry specific practices, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, NASA, and the Departments of Defense and Energy. Case examples are based on relevant experience. Participants perform hands-on implementation of processes in realistic team working sessions and facilitated dialogue. Spreadsheet/network analysis using Monte Carlo Simulation tools will be included in the course and clinics (see syllabus). Permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6060 Leading from the Center: Unleashing Your Leadership Potential
This seminar is designed to support existing and emerging leaders who recognize their need for more adaptive leadership skills to effectively respond to rapidly changing environments. We will weave leadership theory and practice in a highly experiential seminar so that participants can actively engage in a leadership lab including deep reflective thinking, rapid prototyping and experimenting with new behaviors and practices. The purpose of the seminar is to evoke personal leadership at more impactful levels and improve organizational performance and personal satisfaction. Participants will examine their own, and others', leadership theories by identifying assumptions about leading, creating a preferred model for individual leadership, and field testing actual shifts in behavior. Participants will engage in a three-part exploration over the course of the seminar: first, we will have an opportunity to examine our own models and those of the leading theorists in the field; second, participants will be asked to articulate and improve their own model; and finally, participants will be asked to activate and test their model and report back on the experience. This course is designed to create an 'action-learning' community in which you will integrate your professional experience, this class, and other graduate course work with a final exploration of leadership concepts, theory, and applied practice. This course is also designed to strengthen your ability to lead, including as a colleague who can support leadership behavior in peers and as one who can promote leadership behavior in supervisors and subordinates. Permission requests from Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6070 Psychodynamics of Organizations
As an area of study, the psychodynamics of organizations draws out attention tothe tacit, implicit, and unconscious dimensions of organizational life. It presumes that a person takes up his or her role at work by drawing on both individual history and the organizational context that helps define a role, its boundary, and the resources available to take it up. In both these aspects, the organizational context, and one's individual biography, people are often unaware of the thoughts and feelings that animate their behavior. This course will introduce students to some basic concepts of psychoanalysis, which focuses on individual motivation, and systems psychodynamics, which focuses on group dynamics and group psychology. System psychodynamics also emphasizes how an organization's primary task, or its "reason for being," influences individual experience. Readings include case studies as well as expositions of theory. The instructor will also draw on his own consulting cases. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6090 Critical Imagination: Diverse Strategies for Meaningful Change
In her novel Parable of the Sower, MacArthur “Genius Grant” awardee Octavia E. Butler reminds us that "the only lasting truth is change." While this mantra comes from the pages of science fiction, it speaks to an important fact about the shifting social realties that affect organizations in our technological age. If we want to develop lasting strategies for leading through change, we must think carefully about the resources we turn to for guidance—including which perspectives are represented in those resources. Critical imagination can help us do this work by encouraging creative thinking that fosters substantive change. We’ll begin this project-based course by asking how work within organizations can better reflect the diversity of perspectives and research which have already transformed our world. This will involve looking closely at a range of case studies and scholarship across disciplines—as well as speculative texts that invite us to think about the future of work within agile teams. We'll discuss models for inclusive leadership, adaptive facilitation, and intercultural collaboration which highlight emergent strategies for change. This means turning to research on organizational dynamics in our digital era—where science fiction is closer to social and technological fact than ever before. This also means exploring questions like: • How can we leverage critical imagination as a practical tool within organizational dynamics? • How do we design for equity and justice that goes deeper than representation, toward systemic and structural change? • What meaningful outcomes can we articulate and build towards into our projects? • Which personal and professional communities do we hope to serve through our work? • What do we need to unlearn, and which methodologies will support this process? • Which strategies can we use to foster mission-oriented thinking that’s specific to our roles within organizations? Our culminating efforts will include projects that we will develop throughout the course via discussion posts, reflective activities, collaborative presentations, simulations, and reading groups. Much of this will entail using imaginative work to think critically about what’s possible, as we advocate for meaningful change within diverse organizations. Permission requests from Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6100 Knowing Yourself: The Coach as an Instrument of Change
Note: This class is predicated on the assumption that prior to offering coaching assistance, a coach should have a deep understanding of his or her own behavior and its impact on a client. Utilizing validated tools and strategies available for coaches, the students practice sets of coaching skills on each other. This includes practice in interviewing and observational skills. In addition, students will have the opportunity to give and analyze 360 degree feedback data, as well as use a variety of other instruments that can be foundational for a useful coaching experience. Premise: Coaching others is very serious business. Intrepid individuals willing to take on this responsibility should be willing to answer the following questions: Who am I as a leader and helper? What are the assets I bring to the coaching relationship? What are my deficits, overused strengths, or underutilized skills and behaviors? What historical influences from my family of origin influence my capacity to build a positive relationship with my coaching client? Are there discrepancies in relation to my self-perceptions and those who know me well--family members, peers, colleagues, friends, boss, and direct reports? As a result, are these specific areas of personal development that I need to address as I move? Similar to most traditional programs where the focus is on the management of change, the course is organized to: 1) A diagnostic phase in which the values, history, assumptions, and behaviors of the client will be assessed. In this case the client will be the student/coach. 2) The applied phase in which analysis, interpretation, and formal learning will be the central focus. The end result will be individuals with a deep and abiding understanding of their own psychodynamics and their personal impact. Finally, by modeling many of the tools and strategies useful in any effective coaching effort and practicing them on themselves and their student peers, it is hoped that the experiential nature of the course will allow maximum transference to the real work of coaching. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6110 Effective Collaboration for a Changing Global Workplace
Effective collaboration requires a combination of strong self-awareness and an ability to make adjustments at the individual and group level. This course provides tools for building teams that leverage individual strengths and a mutual learning process of continuously addressing collaboration barriers to improve team performance. This seminar/lab is designed to extend each participant's analytical skills and gain practice implementing high performance practices through a team-based simulation. Specific learning objectives are to: 1. Understand leading-edge frameworks for building effective teams. 2. Learn and apply tools for diagnosing barriers to collaboration. 3. Develop implementation plans for teams and organizations consistent with best practices. 4. Provide tools for self-assessment of participants to leverage their strengths for teamwork success. 5. Apply learning from classroom-based teamwork simulation to participants' real life experiences. The course will be conducted in a university classroom and use several breakout rooms for teamwork among participants. Case study teams will use web-based communication software (TBD) for inter-session collaboration on projects. Weekly facilitated discussions by course instructors will be conducted at each weekend session. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6120 Mastering Organizational Politics and Power
The purpose of this course is to explore, enhance, and expand the participants'competence in organizational politics. Students will observe political dynamics as they occur in their own organizations and will interview senior managers in other organizations to learn how political realities vary from one organization to another. Theoretical ideas about a dimension of organizational politics of particular interest to each individual participant will be analyzed in a term paper. In addition, each participant will keep a personal diary of political dynamics in his or her own workplace. The course will also explore ways to master the political skills of networking, negotiating, influencing, leading, and following, as well as developing a political strategy. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6130 Is Bigger - Inevitable, Better or Worse in Organizations?
Is the modern large corporation alienating, inflexible, unproductive? Is the small organization or work team engaging, innovative or creative, productive? Has it always been this way in the U.S.? Is change possible? In this unique, informal, "turbo" seminar, we will examine the large corporation in terms of history, governance and control, and delivery of (office) work. We will consider whether "bigness" and bureaucracy are inevitable, and how organizations of the present, and probably the future, are affected by those of the past. This seminar has been structured to cover a good deal of ground ina short time. The seminar will meet on six Saturdays. The subject matter of theseminar is the large-scale organization. Questions to be raised include: 1) Is the modern large corporation alienating, inflexible, and unproductive? 2) Are bigness and bureaucracy inevitable? 3) Is the small organization or work team engaging, innovation, creative, and productive? 4) What does the historical record for the United States reveal? 5) Are organizational alternatives and change possible? Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6140 Consulting/Coaching Tools and Techniques
This course will offer a conceptual comprehension of the tools and techniques used in effective internal and external organizational consulting engagements. By contrasting the theory and practice of alternative coaching models, we will build tools and techniques for effective coaching as a leadership competency. Through an analysis of the coaching relationships in your organization, you will learn to develop a personalized approach to coaching and expand upon and within organizational settings. Participants learn the "how and why" as well as well as consulting frameworks. Additionally, the relevant and often symbiotic connection between consulting and coaching will be studied. What process tools are most useful to today's executive coach in a consultative environment? How do approaches to consulting and coaching differ? How are they similar? How can a confluence of coaching and consulting lead to more effective decision-making and wide-scale organizational performance? This course will be presented over five class meetings. The class sessions will be taught utilizing lectures, case studies, structured small group discussions, individual and team presentations, faculty and participant experience, and guest speakers. In addition to textbooks for this course, students will also need to purchase an assessment. Details on this process will be provided to students before the course start. Permission requests from Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6150 Global PENNovation
Environmentalist Paul Hawken challenged a class of college graduates that they would have to "figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating." That theme is at the heart of this course. While we have seen the notion of sustainability gaining traction in recent years, our quality of life in the near future hinges on the development and implementation of sustainable solutions to enormously complex global environmental and social problems. This course is designed to foster the thinking that is needed to address those enormous problems. It involves focusing on a critical global problem with sustainability and social dimensions - in this case, the rapid shift of an increasing global population to cities - and providing the framework for students to take a deep dive into evaluating and recommending solutions to meet that challenge. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 1990, less than 40% of the global population lived in cities, and that figure is expected to grow to 60% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. Such growth brings tremendous sustainability and design challenges in both developed and developing countries in terms of resource consumption, food security, water security, energy security, air quality, transportation, infrastructure, waste processing, recycling, and public health. It also brings opportunity. In 2020, students will conduct research on the challenges and opportunities created by increasing urbanization, drawing on readings from thought leaders in conjunction with their own creative insights, with a focus on advancing development of sustainable cities to ensure the long-term health of people and planet. Prerequisite: Non-DYNM students must complete a course permit request: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6160 Myths to Media: Stories on a Mission
What determines our behavior? How do we come to understand? Who determines our purpose? Is now the only time? When asked "What if there were nothing in the universe," one professor replied, "How do we know there isn't?" The more our world seems to dis-integrate into discrete and unpredictable units and actors, the more we crave guidance from robust human models and conceptual frameworks of intellect, emotion, psyche, and action. Fortunately, our 100,000-year-old brains retain mechanisms enabling us even now to enhance our choice using the "stories beneath the stories" that--in form and content--have driven our purposes and actions since sentient beings could communicate. Yoda you should ask. This course offers several means of deploying these powerful ancient sense-making tools--myths and stories--to purposefully communicate and foment action with individuals, groups, and organizations, particularly in our global social media milieu. We will learn many practical story-based ways to apply this power to several "missions": engaging others in individual and collective action, increasing understanding of patterns in human behavior, and harnessing the driver of purpose for business and social enterprise. Seek help from Prometheus. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6170 Economics of Human Behavior and Organizational Life
As a society, we choose many different ways to organize different aspects of our lives. The institutions and organization we choose to provide us with the necessities and comforts of life range from the fundamental institutions of family and religious organizations, to firms in the capitalistic market and democratically elected governments. We respond to this environment in unique ways: we marry, we worship, we buy and sell goods and services, and we vote. The primary goal of this course is an examination of the various aspects of human behavior in the context of organizational and institutional life from an economic perspective. We recognize that the choices we make are sensitive to the costs and benefits of different actions and use this economic perspective to gain insights into social, economic and political behavior in our daily lives. We start the course with an examination of how micro economists view the world and examine their favorite toolkit. We discuss concepts such as: efficiency, opportunity cost, marginal analysis, externalities, incentives, free-riding, rent-seeking, and transaction costs. These concepts are fundamental if an economic perspective and they will be presented using everyday examples. Before concluding the course, we will look at several topics such as: Human capital and investment in education (Should you invest in an Ivy League school education?); Law and enforcement (When is it profitable to break the law?); Bribes and gifts (Quid pro quo?); Economics of information (Used cars and the market for "lemons"); Why we discriminate against minorities?; Property rights and externalities (The tragedy of the commons: Should we have smoke-free environments?); and Free-riding (Should I vote in the next election? Should I volunteer to clean up?) Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6180 Social Dynamics and the Future of Work in Hybrid
This course will focus on the social dynamics of work in both a face-to-face and virtual environment. Grounded in much of the early work from Kurt Lewin at the Research Center for Group Dynamics (RCGD) on group productivity, communication, social perception, intergroup relations, and group membership participants will look backwards to propel forward on the landscape of the future of work. The COVID-19 pandemic has led organizations to embrace virtual work, with some initial data suggesting that productivity may have increased. But these short-term gains may mask longer-term threats to the ability of organizations to innovate and actively cultivate culture. Drawing on social network theory, participants will explore alternative approaches of work. An approach that recognizes the value of various types of network connections and different types of social capital to help managers identify a blend of virtual and face-to-face work to avoid the loss of connections and social capital that virtual work brings. This seminar is designed to be highly experiential so that participants can engage in the practices necessary to enable productivity, innovation and adaptation. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6190 Organizational Project Management
The course provides an overview of the concepts, procedures, and fundamental processes of project management for working professionals. Participants are introduced to the principles, tools, and techniques of project management within an integrative framework. The course emphasizes that, for most organizations, projects are the primary means for implementing strategic initiatives. Course Objectives: 1) Understand and critically evaluate expectations, procedures and processes of program management as currently practiced in large for-profit enterprises; 2) Understand the content and processes and standards of practice as defined by the Program Management Institute (PMI); 3) Understand how to build and manage effective project teams; 4) Become familiar with the critical components of effective project plans. In addition to the scheduled meeting dates, additional class activities will be planned between faculty and students. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6200 The Art and Science of Understanding Paradox in Organizations
This course introduces multiple approaches to understand and interpret the paradoxes that baffle us, such as: 1) Why is ht that we go to hospitals to be healed and get well, but we leave sick and infected? 2) How is it that we come together to do purposeful work and end up doing mundane, boring tasks? 3) Why is it that banks were created to protect and ensure financial security, but banks have caused a global recession? 4) Why do we not learn from history? Why do we repeat the mistakes we have made before? 5) Why is it that the "Developed and Advanced" countries of the world are destroying the planet? This highly interactive, flexible, and remarkably diverse online course will offer frames to observe the paradox in ourselves, our families, our friendships, our workplace, and our relationships with individuals, teams, and systems--the three units of analysis that constitute every paradoxical situation. Paradox appears in our organizations, our relationships, and our experience as contributing members and leaders of our society. The value proposition of this course is for managers, leaders, and strategic thinkers who wish to understand the art and science behind the paradoxes in the systems within which we live and operate--the visible and the invisible and the rational and irrational. Understanding the unconscious forces that lead to inconsistencies and contradictions will help us be resilient in the face of paradox. This online course will have weekly synchronous and asynchronous sessions of 2-3 hours in length. Through guest speakers and multiple interdisciplinary discussions, we will explore many angles of our understanding of paradoxes. Course grading will be based on class participation, contribution to the collective wisdom, and academic excellence in written assignments. Non-Dynamics students: Please include a brief job description in your permission request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6220 Diversity and Inclusion: Strategies to Confront Bias and Enhance Collaboration
In the workplace it is inevitable that difference between individuals will cause conflict--whether explicit or beneath the surface. Denial and unconscious bias will prevent issues from being addressed. This course will expand participant perspectives about strategies for addressing bias and for creating effective collaborations that bridge difference. The approach of the course is based heavily in experiential learning, structured reflection, and practical application. Through a self-assessment and group reflection, participants will create, implement, and adjust action plans for addressing unconscious bias and for enhancing communication that drive inclusive goal and norm setting. A live, building case provides an opportunity to apply the course concepts in a dynamic team setting. One additional facilitator per weekend will be brought in for short guest lectures and team observation/debriefing to provide an appropriate and relevant source of challenge to work through difficult issues raised through course concepts. The overall course structure will combine three intensive on-site Saturday meetings with opportunities for remote collaboration to create a seamless and continuous learning community. To maximize collaboration and networking opportunities, students will participate in two teams: one in which they will be tasked to solve a business challenge related to diversity and inclusion and the other for discussing strategies to implement course learning within their workplace or organization. Permits for Non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6230 Building Intercultural Competence in A Global Work Environment
This engaging course will promote intercultural competence and heighten cross-cultural awareness. You will engage in activities, simulations, and discussion about culture, values, perceptions, communication styles, and cultural patterns of thought and behavior that will help you understand the basic concepts, theories, and issues of intercultural communication related to intercultural relationships and how these concepts apply to your personal and professional lives. This fun and stimulating course will also explore ways to create an interculturally-competent work environment. Learning opportunities will examine tools to interact more positively with each other. As we build intercultural competence, we will sometimes encounter barriers as we interact with people whose cultural backgrounds vary from our own. As learners of intercultural communication, we will be bringing different cultural experiences and perspectives. As we interact and learn together, you will be exposed to different viewpoints and cultural lenses. We will all realize that as we unravel differences, you will find that what is acceptable and appropriate in one culture may be disrespectful from another cultural vantage point. As we cultivate, learn, and shape our intercultural competences, we may need to have an open mindset to learn new things and unlearned misinformation. The cultural competency of learning and unlearning, shaping and reshaping is a life skill that will be useful and extended well beyond the course to our work settings and personal lives. Finally, this real-life application course will help you develop a greater understanding of the behaviors and practices other individuals from your workplace may bring with them from their cultural backgrounds. Areas that will be tackled will include: 1) practical tips for working with diverse cultures and individuals, 2) how values, perceptions, and expectations differ between cultures, 3) how to manage conflicts and problems with other individuals, and 4) what you need to know about the workplace dynamics, behaviors, and practices in international cultures. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6240 Leadership: Mindset to Action
In this experiential course, theory and learning are put to work towards action in consideration of your personal context. We will examine various mindsets for leadership such as systems thinking, appreciative inquiry, servant leadership, feedback, and reflection. Through discussions and assignments, you will strengthen and deepen your knowledge of leadership styles, develop and refine your leadership style, and better articulate who you are as a leader. Throughout the course, you will assess and reflect on your leadership mindsets to explore how those mindsets are manifested in your actions; identify areas to explore and develop; and determine ways to experiment with and implement new approaches. You will reflect upon and reconcile what your leadership mindsets offer with what you do in your actions. A personal leadership narrative will be created, incorporating analysis of your past and present leadership mindsets with your plan for moving forward. Theory and practice unite to support you wherever you are on your leadership journey: whether you are an emerging leader, a new leader, a transitioning leader, or a leader of leaders. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6250 Ethnography of Everyday Life: A Master Class
Ethnography is a fundamental method within the social sciences that concerns the systematic study of culture. It involves a "thick description" of how people actually live their everyday lives, personal or professional. Ethnographers study how human groups form institutions and how these structures grow, function, maintain themselves, and persist. Also at issue is how people share their understandings and develop ideologies pertaining to these processes. Social negotiation and the development of "local knowledge" in the culture of interpersonal affairs will be emphasized, particularly as it is transmitted from one generation to the next. Through direct observation and discussion, students will treat Philadelphia as an "urban laboratory" and seek to identify, to study, and to learn about local people and places. In this vein, the class will visit communities and organizational settings to gain exposure to ordinary people but, particularly, to apply ethnographic methods to the complexities of the modern workplace as well as to everyday life of the city. The final paper will be a synthesis of ethnographic literature and observations of local urban life and culture, particularly as these issues apply to understanding and organization or a local community. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Summer Term
0.5 Course Units
DYNM 6260 Navigating the Post-Professional World
This course will explore the emerging space between virtual reality and augmented reality as they manifest themselves in the marketplace shifts in both startups and large corporations. The goal of this course is to deisgn, from the future back to the present, a graduate curriculum that supports the evolution and transfromation of traditional professional training and development. Leaders of professional services from disparate fields, including health/medicine, law, architecture/design, information technology, and spirituality/religion will be engaged to participate in identifying trends for future professional enhancement. These representatives would be asked to be both resources to the class and recruiters within their own organizations so we can obtain participants for a Delphi study for the future of that profession. Course work will include the literature on the post-professional world as well as the use of both virtual reality and augmented reality. A capstone quality paper will be supported as a group project and could serve as a pre-capstone individual project. A particular focus will be on the trend of white-collar automation and its impact on the professions. Students interested in engaging with colleagues around the future and its consequences and opportunities are encourage to participate. Special attention will be developed on the role of building trust between post professionals and their stakeholders. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6280 Organizational Diagnosis: Diagnostic Strengths for Effectiveness
This seminar introduces participants to multiple approaches to diagnosing organizations to understand the complex ways issues show up and how to work through them. When organizations find themselves in trouble, i.e., rumblings about lack of leadership, cultural challenges, poor communication, diminished productivity, low morale, etc., they tend to frame the problem(s) simplistically or locate blame in a few difficult individuals or groups. On closer examination, problematic issues are often found to be symptomatic of multiple systemic or cultural issues within the organization. Change can only be successful when it starts from a clear evidence-based assessment. The course provides students with tools, frameworks, and theories to understand these organizational challenges and opportunities, focusing on systems thinking, culture/ethnography, and group dynamics, as well as application skills necessary for identifying and framing problem areas, collecting data, and organizing feedback to the client system. Real-time examples, case simulations, enactments and diagnostic project work will inform our discussions as we consider the relationships between diagnosis, organizational reflection and appropriate action. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6300 Digital Business Transformation: A Process Approach to Results at Minimum Risk
According to newest research, over 70% of organizations worldwide have started digital transformation initiatives or at least plan for them. New digital tools are available almost daily - and many of them have the potential of a major business impact. They enable high performance practices and often even new business models. The resulting transformation of business processes leads to superior customer or supplier experience and organizations become more efficient, agile, meet compliance requirements, or improve the quality of products and services. They help achieving a level of process performance you would never have thought of before. Robotic Process Automation (RPA), Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and Cloud-based software architectures with next generation automation approaches are some examples. However, many organizations underestimate the challenges of digital business transformation resulting in initiatives delivering little or no business value. A major financial organization, for example, stopped the use of over 1000 robots since that digital workforce had created severe issues: processes changed more frequently than expected - the robots didn't which led to numerous exception cases that had to be handled manually. The elimination of bottlenecks created more severe issues downstream. Value-driven Digital Business Transformation addresses those challenges. It proposes approaches, methods and tools that help to focus on the right sub-processes to transform and improve those areas considering the end-to-end business context as well as sustain the results through appropriate governance. The systematic use of digital technologies requires a hybrid workforce management aligning people, robots and other technologies through appropriate business processes management practices. A value-driven digital transformation prepares for this situation. The course discusses design and execution principles as well as related methods and tools to realize the full business value of digital business transformations, delivering results fast and at minimal risk. It combines newest case studies with current research findings to master business impacts of digitalization. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6310 Everyday Intergenerational Conversations: Baby Boomers and Millenials
This hybrid course delves into three big questions around the burning theme of everyday intergenerational conversations. The class experience will be a living such conversation with Dr. Barstow, a Baby Boomer, and Amrita Subramanian, a millennial. The course format is 20% in person and 80% on a virtual platform. It's a learner-centric and a learner-driven course. It is created to mine the practical know-how and life experiences of all participants, so all generations within the class can have a revealing experience that they can immediately apply at work and their personal relationships in life. At this exact point in time there are 300+ million people in the workforce and four generations at play. We begin to see the tiers of own understanding falling apart. It's no longer about stereotyping or simply managing by default or banking on quick-recall labels--and here's why--workplace performance or productivity or engagement or intergenerational respect and trust cannot be left to chance or opinions. We have to pause and consider the following questions: 1) What: What are the generation names and labels we use? What purpose do they serve? How do they help and how do they hurt? What do they help us see? What do they hide, obstruct or make us miss? 2) So what? Intergenerational communication is poor and we can do better. Understand it and skills (strategies and tactics) to prosper and cope. How to use agency and brokerage? What of cognitive dissonance? Responding versus reacting to Fake News? 3) What's next? What have we learned from this whole century about the 4 generations at work? At home? At meetings or webinars or potluck parties? What of families at Thanksgiving? How can we expect to have valuable and meaningful conversations and relationships with all generations--current and future? The primary goal is not to make up our minds just yet or have cookie-cutter retorts. It's not just what to think but how to think about this very pertinent issue at hand for all practitioners, leaders, managers, and folks from all walks of life. There are bound to be far more questions than answers as we begin, and by the time we close, we would have configured our own responses to these questions that appreciate the context of our own unique lives. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6320 Coaching and Developing the Agile Leader and Their Organization
By taking the essence of the Agile practices used in IT and removing the technical requirements, this course explores an innovative way to create a more humanistic approach to complex organizational change. Students will learn how to apply these mindset and methods effectively, including focused attention on: (1) effectively probing, sensing, and responding to wicked problems; (2) promoting the right conversations to increase engagement and opt-in-to-change initiatives; (3) identifying and then using patterns and anti-patterns that can make or break organizational transformation; (4) obtaining alignment, agreement and accountability around goals; (5) implementing new ways of thinking and working in an Agile-like way; (6) developing open, inclusive teams; and (7) creating a more generative culture that embraces continuous learning. Students will have an opportunity to learn from, and work directly with, senior-level leaders at organizations such as Neiman Marcus, Facebook, ServiceNow, MUFG, AT&T, and Unilever who will share with the class their own stories of transformation through Agile mindset and methods. The final project will be a comprehensive transformation plan that students will present to a live panel of business leaders who will serve as judges and mentors for students’ transformation plans. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6340 Process Improvement Tools and Strategies
Process improvement as taught in this course often provides high-leverage, highvisibility opportunities for showcasing coaching and leadership skills as a member, coach, or leader of cross-functional process improvement teams. Cross-functional process improvement teams (running lean and six sigma projects) have evolved into a major pathway for developing leadership and coaching talent in such organizations as Baptist Healthcare, Federal Express, Ritz Carlton, Toyota Motor Co., and General Electric. Process improvement project leaders and team members use specific tools and capabilities to analyze as-is processes and to define and deploy new or improved processes that deliver better outcomes and customer satisfaction with less non-value added effort. Leading or serving on cross-functional process improvement teams creates opportunities to work and network with people from other parts of your organization and creates opportunities for visibility to executives and managers sponsoring strategic improvements. Participating in or leading process improvement is also a great leadership, coaching and professional development activity. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6350 Organizational Essentials for Leadership
Through presentations by expert speakers, case discussions, and participation in team projects, students will review and evaluate critical issues from across the frames of business, including general; human resource; marketing; information and stakeholder management; leadership; corporate culture; communications; organizational behavior; sales, marketing and public relations; finance and financial reporting; ethics and social responsibility; unions and government relations; and business law. Each of these elements will be studied in light of changing environmental conditions, including the economy; society; consumer behavior; market trends; regulation; politics, unpredictable events such as 9/11; organizational change; history; and internationalism. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6360 Frontiers of Leadership Development
The best organizations for leadership development use a blend of internal and external coaching to a.) Support leadership performance; b.) Develop high-potential talent capabilities; c.) Accelerate individual, team, and organizational agility; and d.) Support strategy execution. Leaders must navigate increasingly complex and volatile global environments and rapid technological developments that are accelerating the pace of change in the nature of work, organizational arrangements, and workforce compositions. This context demands agility, resilience, proactive, continuous learning, and the ability to cultirivate diverse relational networks. Coaching must support these capabilities. This course is intended for students with an interest in culturally complex leadership development and organizational change. Existing coaching models focus on a variety of "soft" skills, but few focus directly on culture learning and the ability to lead in a variety of cultural environments. The course is based on the premise that our current workplaces require an ability to function effectively in a variety of cultural environments and that leadership requires an ability to recognize and leverage "cultural diversity" in teamwork, communication, collaboration, conflict, and change. Coaching, as a leadership development practice, must help leaders grow in their ability to recognize and leverage the national, professional, functional, and organizational cultures that influence workforce enagagement, productivity, satisfaction, and innovation. The purpose of this course is to enhance student understanding of coaching models, methods, and cases informed by cross-cultural psychology, intercultural communication, anthropology, and international business disciplines. Through reading, class discussion, written reflection, and guided practice, students will develop their skills in coaching across cultural differences. Students will co-facilitate organization development exercises designed to illustrate how to leverage cultural differences. Using Rosinsky's global coaching process as an illustrative example of this kind of coaching, students will coach one another through a self-assessment, development planning process, and initial movement torward their objectives using a global scorecard. Students will then apply what they learned in a final coaching project. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6380 Organizing for Entrepreneurial Effectiveness
This course is a mix of in-person and virtual sessions. In-person meeting datesare 9/5; 10/3; 11/14; 12/12. Entrepreneurship has become a popular aspiration for many individuals in the United States and around the world. In fact, a recent survey by UK Trade & Investment confirmed that roughly 1 in 3 individuals under the age of 34 have expressed a desire to form their own new venture within the next five years. This represents a marked increase in aspirational levels over the past two decades. Although not all new ventures are entrepreneurial in nature, the motivation for starting a new venture is ultimately rooted in a desire to change one's professional and/or personal circumstances. Most individuals never achieve this objective because they fail to take the first step in organizing their entrepreneurial aspirations into an effective plan. This course is designed for mid-career professionals who aspire to either form an independent new venture (i.e., entrepreneurial venture) or lead the creation of a new venture within their existing organization (i.e., intrapreneurial venture). Participants in this course will: 1) learn the internal and external motivational forces that drive individuals in general and themselves in particular; 2) become familiar with the general competencies and skills needed for a new venture to be effective; 3) understand the unique needs associated with creating a balanceteam for the new venture; 4) cover the practical aspects of developing an effective new venture; and 5) prepare a formal plan designed to marshal the necessary resources and support the new venture. The course will culminate with each student preparing a formal executive summary and professional presentation to support the creation of a new venture in a new or existing organization.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6390 Sustainable Change: Managing Organizational Culture to Achieve Leadership Goals
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast," as management guru Peter Drucker famously said. We know that leaders who can effectively manage their organization's culture are better at adapting to market trends, retaining employees, and engaging external stakeholders who demand more corporate transparency and social responsibility. Yet most of us find it difficult to understand what culture really is, let alone manage it successfully. This challenge is magnified at a time when technological and demographic trends have made organizational boundaries more porous and ambiguous than ever, threatening to make traditional models of top-down change management ineffective. This course will therefore take a bottom-up, contextual approach to helping students understand and manage organizational culture in order to achieve their strategic and career goals. We will start with the individual, learning how culture works to shape organizational politics. We will discuss ways in which students can develop strategies for navigating organizational culture to achieve their career goals. We will then move to the group level, examining how cultural barriers form between teams, functions, and divisions, harming communication and coordination. The final section of the course will build to the organization level and provide students with a toolkit for creating strategies to achieve sustainable cultural change. The course willbe heavily focused on practical application: students will conduct semester-long cultural research/consulting projects with organizations located in Philadelphia. We will also apply course frameworks and tools to case studies of leaders attempting to create sustainability-oriented cultures in their organizations. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6400 Virtual Collaboration
NOTE: Logitech ClearChat Headphones and Logitech QuickCam Pro9000 are required for this course. Please see the syllabus for other requirements. Across the globe companies, both large and small, are increasingly conducting culturally complex work thorugh tecnnology channels and virtual personnel transfers, making multi-cultural organization and virtual work inextricably intertwined. In this context electronically mediated collaboration and communication capabilities across time, distance, organization, culture, and other knowledge boundaries have become necessary for the everyday work of telecommuters, virtual teams, remote managers, professional knowledge communities, and electronic marketplaces. This course is primarily intended for students with an interest in globally distributed work and collaborative virtual organizations. The purpose of this elective is to enhance student understandings of virtual forms of human collaboration and to develop student abilities to work jointly with others via electronic tools. This course design makes typical social patterns encountered in virtual organizations visible so that students can learn from participating and collectively reflecting on their course experiences. This course has an online course fee of $150. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6410 The Art and Science of Organizational Coaching
Coaching has become a primary tool for consultants, human resources professionals and administrators interested in promoting and sustaining leadership and executive development, behavioral change, and role transition. This course explores the theory and practices associated with organizational coaching. We examine and practice the steps of the normative coaching process, the issues and boundaries that effect coaching, and pitfalls to avoid. This is an introductory course that follows a hybrid model of instruction, learning and application in class and in virtual class. The first class will be a weekend face-to-face experience followed by consecutive virtual classroom sessions with a variety of different applications. Students will practice phone coaching and virtual coaching as well as virtual group written discussion. Throughout the course we will contrast theory and practice through our own experience and observation via assignments and behavioral experimentation. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6420 A Cognitive Playbook: Frames for Smart Thinking
This course integrates strategy and organization through abstract thinking—what psychologists call metacognition. You will gain both big-picture scope and nitty-gritty tools for organizational analysis, planning, and change. You will learn how to speed-read the literature on strategy, organization, leadership, management, and the like—because so much of it is derivative and redundant. Old wine in new bottles. At the core of DYNM 6420 are five “cognitive plays,” or geometries of thinking: point, linear, curvilinear, angular, and triangular. Each play has its time and place. The challenge is to mix and match appropriately. Playbook shows how.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6430 Trappings, Substance, & Memories: Effective Public Presentations in Orgs
In spite of the technological advances that have transformed organizational communication, the ability to articulate and present ideas, arguments, and positions in a face-to-face context remains a vital skill. At the same time, the opportunities to develop fundamentally sound presentation skills are rather limited, and, in many cases, organizations don't train their employees to do so. In this very hands-on course, we will resurrect this age-old practice by exploring the tried and true presentation methods and approaches while simultaneously making direct connections to how technology has transformed presentation speaking in organizations. We will initially explore the fundamentals of public presentations: what makes an effective presentation, the arguments for developing strong presentation skills, and specific analysis of business speech. How does one establish proper credibility and build the trust necessary for success? Where does structure play a role and how can certain elements from theater, storytelling, and narrative help create highly impactful organizational presentations. We'll explore what determines ethical presentations, where charisma (or lack thereof) plays a role, and how to most effectively incorporate visual accompaniments such as PowerPoint into presentations. We will dig much deeper into the development of strong persuasive arguments with emphasis on how social media has impacted credibility in novel ways. Finally, we will use improvisational techniques as a way to prepare for those sudden moments when one is called upon to make a quick presentation. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6440 Applied Organizational Change: Methods Dojo
This seminar is designed to support existing and emerging leaders who recognize their need for more adaptive practices to effect organizational and individual change in complex and rapidly changing environments. Building on a strong base of theory, this seminar is largely experiential. Students are expected to identify a real need in a system (work, internship, or volunteer), which, if improved, would have a substantial improvement on overall organizational performance and satisfaction. Beginning with this problem or dilemma, the seminar is designed as a 'dojo.' or practice space, where students can clarify their own assumptions about how and why change occurs and practice new techniques and approaches for eliciting change. Theory provides the foundation for our work and students will be expected to recognize and be able to articulate how they are operationalizing theory in their setting. The purpose of the seminar is to evoke change at more impactful levels and improve organizational performance and personal satisfaction. Participants will examine their own and others' change theories by identifying assumptions about change, testing methods that evoke change, and field-testing actual shifts in behavior. Participants will engage in a four-phase exploration over the course of the seminar: first, participants will have an opportunity to articulate their mental models about how change occurs and examine those of a few cutting-edge theorists; second, participants will be asked to learn and practice a minimum of 16, and possibly up to 25, organizational change micro-methods in class; third, participants will be asked to activate and test their change model using some selection of these methods learned in class on the problem they identified at the beginning of class real-time; and finally, participants will be asked to report on their experiences and re-examine their own models for possible revisions. This course is designed to create an 'action-learning' community in which participants will gain new knowledge and applied skills and give and receive feedback while weaving their professional experience, this class, and other graduate course work into a new, more robust toolkit of change methodology. This course is also designed to strengthen students' ability to lead change from wherever they find themselves in a system. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6450 Project Based Laboratory
Project based lab course.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6460 Race, Ethnicity, and the American Workplace
The U.S. workplace has long been one of the foremost spheres in which racial and ethnic inequality is created and perpetuated. This course investigates how racial and ethnic inequality affect our experiences in the workplace as well as how we as employees, managers, and the like, can positively impact upon our work environments against bias to promote equality and inclusion. Although most Americans largely perceive the employment relationship as one's personal relationship with his/her "boss," one's occupation and/or "job" encompasses much more than that. How we come to work at the jobs that we do is about our access to larger institutional structures within society including education, family background, and, importantly our ascribed location within the social hierarchy. At the beginning of the course, we will spend time studying race and ethnicity as dynamic social and political constructs that evolve through time and space. We will examine how these constructs relate to social stratification, intergroup and intragroup relations, and economic and political hierarchies within U.S. society. The objective here is to provide you with a better understanding of how and why race continues to be such a powerful stratifying agent in contemporary America. We will spend time discussing the enduring power of structural racism in U.S. society--it's evolution since slavery, and its ability to restrict Black & Brown achievement and success within all spheres. How has the Covid-19 pandemic and the BLM movement further brought to light the rigidity of our peculiar system of racial stratification? How can we work to promote true equity and inclusion now? How can we come to work as our "authentic selves" where everyone has a seat at the table? What has history taught us about these issues? And, how can we learn both as individuals and members of organizations to make racial diversity, equity, and inclusion normative experiences for all? Work is a microcosm of our broader lived experiences and it is likely the most "diverse" place we experience in our lifetime. Simultaneously, we will focus on understanding history and evolution of diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the workplace as they relate to addressing racial and ethnic inequality. How have diversity and inclusion practices in the private and public sector evolved over time? How do these practices reflect broader historical and societal trends concerning social and racial inequality? What does it mean to go from compliance to commitment? Have we moved from "diversity for its own sake" to true and meaningful inclusion? What kinds of new initiatives and commitments have organizations made since the BLM protests this summer? How has BLM impacted the experiences of employees of color to-date and where are things headed now? For the rest of the semester, we will examine how workplace inequality gets produced and reproduced along racial and ethnic fault lines. Do D, E, & I programs tailored to distinct groups alleviate issues of marginalization for employees? Why are successful D, E, & I programs profitable for big business? In addition, we will examine the intersections of race, gender, and class in the workplace; how do these intersections impact how we address inequality in hiring, promotions, and recidivism? We will study in-depth how and why personal and organizational biases remain mechanisms of inequity as well as how social class and gender intersect with race/ethnicity to contribute to workplace discrimination. We will host several guest lecturers throughout the semester. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6470 Influence and Persuasion
Former Chrysler chairman Lee Iacocca once noted, "You can have brilliant ideas; but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." This course builds on Iacocca's insight, helping students develop the ability to win support for their perspectives, proposals, and projects from key people in the workplace. Everyone needs to know how to sell ideas. Sales people obviously need this skill and so do managers of all kinds. Even CEOs need it to gain buy-in for a vision. Influence and persuasion help you work with and through others--customers, teammates, colleagues, direct reports, and stakeholders--who have different professional backgrounds, roles, opinions, and agendas. In highly interactive discussions and exercises, students will learn about practical field-tested frameworks that draw on current insights from psychology, anthropology, and behavioral economics. When the course is completed, students will have mastered the latest thinking about: 1) Persuasion styles and how they can adapt them to achieve desired outcomes. 2) The five barriers to communication and collaboration and methods for overcoming the barriers. 3) The systematic steps in the process of selling ideas and negotiating when you need to. 4) The similarities and differences among influencing, persuading, and negotiating. 5) Ways to build momentum for ideas. 6) Techniques for motivating others to take action. 7) Winning support for culture change. These insights will enable students to work across the boundaries that create warring workplace tribes. Nearly every organization contends with this tribal warfare and leaders need to know how to counter-act the natural human tendency to square off against co-workers who have different professional backgrounds or roles. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6490 From Compliance to Commitment: Positioning Organizations to Develop Authentic DEI Initiatives
Following the 2020 social justice uprising, many organizations have created and/or expanded their efforts to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and initiatives, without much large-scale success. To implement these programs and initiatives, organizations have hired executive coaches and consultants to help them implement a top-down approach to create effective and sustainable DEI programs; however, sustainable efforts must focus on the intentional inclusion of historically underrepresented communities while drawing on established best practices of organizations that remain successful within this longitudinal agenda. Specifically, this course will provide scholars-practitioners with an overview of relevant social science research and organizational development literature that can inform organizational approaches to the multidimensional corporate workforce of the 21st century. In addition, it will provide case studies of organizations within the technology and financial services industries that have been traditionally ahead of the curve in creating and sustaining diverse and equitable environments before Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and the overwhelming adoption of remote work. Lastly, this course will provide practitioners insights to qualitative methods, as they are a critical piece in allowing practitioners to assess the authentic needs of their stakeholders (leadership, employees, and consumers) and developing tailored strategies for the environment that plans to implement them.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6500 Outdoor Dynamics
This course will have a course fee to support the travel logistics. This course explores the implications of past and future changes in land use and population changes over time in one of the least densely populated areas of the country, but which serves as both a winter and summer playground for millions of urban residents each year. Set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, only a day's drive for over 10 million Americans, the area boasts some of the most pristine and exotic microenvironments in the world, left from the last Ice Age. Over 250,000 people visit the summit of Mt. Washington, the region's highest peak, every year, driving, hiking or riding the cog railway to the top. The focus of this course is the growing interest in promoting "sustainable development," which most people envision as protecting the environment and wild species from human encroachment and pollution. The course will examine the human sphere and the natural sphere as common ground in the analysis of competing issues; areas of compatibility; and future plans to promote a sustainable environment in this region. The course will focus on three themes: 1) how the people and institutions tasked with being the environment's guardians go about their jobs; 2) how the area is used by visitors; and 3) how industry and its stakeholders have worked with local regulators and politicians to create jobs and promote growth. The course will ask students to overlay the principles of sustainability and issues management, in managing the increasing concern that the trajectory of land use and industrial growth will compromise the region's native ecology and wilderness and backcountry attractiveness. Left to its own momentum, how will the future of the area fare versus promoting and implementing more sustainable goals? Changes in behavior will be needed to bring the two into line, and that leads to organizational dynamics. How will stakeholders resolve the natural tensions of the institutions' (primarily those that operate in the region) mission and development goals with outsiders' desires? What leverage do they and others have in the debate over the future of the region? In addition to an active outdoor week in the White Mountains, participants will meet with key players and leaders from the area and come away with a deeper understanding of the major issues in the tensions between "the place no one knew and the place that got loved to death." Interested students must: 1. complete a course application:
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6510 Group and Team Dynamics
Although groups and teams are often lauded as the mechanisms that provide the competitive edge for organizations in today's challenging economic environment, there is often little attention paid to the deeper social and psychological currents influencing group and team dynamics. Organizational leaders and facilitators frequently lack an in-depth understanding of how work groups, multifunctional teams, and cross-national executive groups develop, operate, accomplish their goals--or not--and end. Team members often struggle to make meaning of the myriad spoken, as well as unexpressed, factors influencing the process and outcomes of the groups of which they are a part. This course, by emphasizing both theory and practice, provides students with a thorough grounding in the ways groups and teams develop and learn. The class will also examine approaches to building group and team competencies related to effective communication, conflict-resolution, and solving complex strategic problems as well as ways to manage the range of intentional and more hidden dynamics that both support and challenge high performance. . In addition to drawing on the extensive literature and research in group dynamics and team building, the class will rely on experiential methods to help students develop keener understanding and insight into the ways in which their own leadership and followership dynamics, as well as the dynamics of the group-as-a-whole, influence their team's ability to accomplish its tasks. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6530 Coaching Others to Manage Conflict
Not a day goes by when you or I, or a person we are coaching, is not faced withsome tantalizing, challenging conflict. It may be with someone we love, a conflict in a team, a struggle between two direct reports, a difference with our boss, or the challenge of a difficult, perhaps aggressive persona in a meeting we facilitate. The problem is not that there is a conflict. The problem is that most of us have a very thin, often inadequate repertoire of responses to the conflicts that engage us on a daily basis. The result is that all too often we are predictable in our responses. Thus, if we take these same limited skills and attempt to provide them to a client in our role as a coach, the consequences will more than likely be similar. This course is about expanding your repertoire of responses to a wide array of conflict situations. In the process, you will increase your understanding of the theoretical constructs that underlie successful conflict management. Not only will your strategies for managing a variety of conflicts expand, but you will be better able to design unique responses that relate to the particular situation with which your client is faced. How you translate these ideas to your clients and, in the process, provide them the confidence to use them, will be a central theme throughout the course. This course provides a balance between intellectual theory, skills, and applied strategies along with the time to practice them. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6540 Crisis Communications and Reputation Risk
All organizations confront crises, either of their own making or from external events. To be ready, equipped, and able to extricate itself from a potential calamity, major or minor, can mean the difference between continued operation and obsolescence. This course focuses on strategies for managing communications during times of organizational crisis by exploring topics such as crisis planning and preparedness, crisis communication strategies, and reputation management techniques as well as the use of social media and other digital platforms in these communications. The course uses case studies of organizations that have faced crises and examines the communication strategies that were employed, both effectively and ineffectively. Outside speakers will include serving and former senior officials in government whose positions required crisis communication skills and expertise. These include Penn’s VP of Public Safety, the Philadelphia Fire Commissioner, and the former Director of the U.S. Secret Service. Students will develop skills in crisis-communication planning, message development, and crisis response coordination. They will learn to analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of crisis communication strategies in real-world scenarios. As part of these learned competencies, students will be media-trained in bridging techniques, smart brevity presentation and writing principles, and message development. As a wrap-up of these acquired skills and techniques, students will be presented with an actual crisis case and serve as the company spokesperson. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6550 Using the Political Process to Effect Organizational Change
At one time or another, each of us has said something like, "I know what to do to make some really effective--and possibly even profitable--changes in this organization,but the politics make it almost impossible to get anything done." The sense is that, althaough there are changes that should be made to improve organizational performance, politics (internal, external, governmental) simply obstructs our ability to make a difference. Frustrations notwithstanding, depending on how it is employed, politics can be either an impediment or, more importantly, a source of opportunities for improving organizations. Politics is the art and science of coordinating individuals, departments, management, markets--the entire organizational environment-to effect a balance between the organization's objectives and the methods used to achieve them. As with the other factors that are employed to affect organizational performance-the methods used to improve manufacturing, marketing, sales, finance, and so on-politics is a means that organizations can use to initiate and maintain critical personal and institutional relationships One of the seminar readings--Latimer's "Why Do They Call It Business If It's Mostly Politics?" is used to provide illustrations of the ambiguous nature of much of what is regarded as organizational politics. What is critical to understand and appreciate from the outset, however, is that politics is not an external factor that is imposed on organizations. Politics is not only a means for achieving personal or institutional power; it is also a method for developing and maintaining personal and institutional relationships within and among individuals and organizations of all types. This seminar will discuss organizational politics and the ways that it is used to identify, characterize, and effect change--both within and among organizations. After reviewing several perspectives on organizations and the roles that political processes play in decision-making, a series of cases is presented that illustrate the contexts and conditions for effective political communication and coordination. Prerequisite: Course Permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit
Fall or Spring
Also Offered As: GAFL 5550
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6560 The New Normal: Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the 21st Century Workplace
This course examines the social construction of race and ethnicity, including relations within and across groups, with a particular focus on their implications for organizational culture and management. In a very real sense, the workplace is a microcosm of the larger society; a place where our individual experiences, beliefs, and biases related to race and ethnicity intersect, creating both opportunities and challenges. Our capacity to understand the different backgrounds and experiences that individuals and groups bring to the organization, as well as recognizing our own biases and the biases of others are directly implicated in our ability to both manage and be managed in the organizations that we are a part of. A primary objective in this course is to increase our capacity to first understand the contours of racial and ethnic diversity in twenty-first century America by investigating (1) the historical context that influences present-day understandings of racial/ethnic diveristy (2) how and why individuals from different racial/ethnic backgrounds can "see" the same thing but interpret it very differently, depending on experience, culture, and social position relative to race/ethnicity (3) the meaning and importance of dominant and minority groups, the degree to which a racial hierarchy exists, and the implications of that hierarchy for important outcomes (4) the degree to which the workplace is, indeed, a microcosm of the larger society (5) the pitfalls of "colorblindness" (6) the nature of stigma and its workplace implications and (7) the benefits and drawbacks of affirmative action policy in the workplace.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6570 Strategic Engagement with Government
Strategic Engagement with Government will be offered as an intensive one-week course during spring break 2024. The course will meet for three days on campus and will then shift to Washington, DC, for the final three days. Government actions play a major role in business and most other organizations, shaping the environment in which organizations operate and making direct purchasing and investment decisions. Effective organizations consider, respond to and shape government decisions that impact them. This course will explore ways in which the private and public sectors interact and will equip organization leaders to engage strategically with governments around the world. Students will study how government actions influence results and will learn proven methods for optimizing growth and reducing risk from interaction with governments. Students will engage with business, non-profit and government leaders, who will discuss challenges they currently face and successful approaches to addressing those challenges. The course uses case studies and small group exercises to illustrate and emphasize key points. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6580 Fundamentals of Sustainability
This course is designed to provide an introduction to sustainability concepts and challenges through the lens of the world's most significant framework to address them: the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). The UN-SDGs serve as a blueprint for addressing the world's most critical social and environmental challenges, calling for urgent collaboration and change to reset the world on a path that operates within planetary boundaries and promotes global prosperity and security. This course will explore extraordinarily significant threats to the way of life of future generations--such as climate change, ecosystem degradation, health and nutrition, pollution, and resource depletion---with specific attention to sustainability challenges and solutions involving food, water, energy, oceans, waste, plastics, biodiversity loss, and urbanization. Further, the course will include focus on the importance of transitioning from linear to circular systems and maximizing life cycle resource utilization. Case studies of scalable sustainability practices and organizational leadership for sustainability will be reviewed with additional input from global thought leaders. Course permits for students outside of the DYNM, MES, or MSAG programs: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6590 Art and Relational Skills
Art and creativity offer a rich experiential learning opportunity to develop personal and interpersonal skills. This understanding builds on existing research and literature as well as in the experience of the instructors implementing art and creativity. This course offers an opportunity to create a safe environment to learn, practice and develop key relational skills using art and creativity, shared learning experiences and reflection, modeling newly acquired skills for the participants' professional and personal practice. This experiential course will support the development of relational skills, such as interpersonal connection, presence, and empathy using art and creativity. It is a 100% hands-on course that requires personal commitment, an open mind, and a desire to learn and grow in new, non-traditional and effective ways. Throughout the course, participants will assess their own relational skills, choose areas for development, and work on enhancing their continuing growth and development using the means provided. Participants will be able to use the tools and models to continue their development after the course as well as for implementing them in their coaching practice or leadership roles. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6610 Organizational Culture Change: Theory and Practice
Organizational culture influences organizational performance. The success of high-profile firms with “quirky cultures,” such as Southwest Airlines and various big tech firms, have led to the creation of “Great Places to Work” lists and associated awards recognizing healthy organizational cultures. These accolades contribute to organizational performance. The related acknowledgment that organizational culture can trump the organizational strategy has led to competition among companies to attract and retain the best employees. More recently, events related to the MeToo Movement and Black Lives Matter have focused our attention on the degree to which all members of an organization are welcomed, respected, valued and heard. And COVID-19 has had a substantial impact on many organizations’ cultures. The response of each organization’s leaders has either reinforced the culture of the organization or revealed underlying values different from those that were espoused. This course addresses such complexities within organizational cultures and explores the ways we can change deep-rooted cultures that favor some groups over others. We will also consider the relationship that formal policies and informal practices have on reinforcing or shifting cultures as well as the daily form of interactions among organization members that may be ignored. We will discuss what is meant by “inclusive culture” and how organizations can become more inclusive and equitable. Finally, this course will provide students with tools for assessing and understanding organizational culture and change. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6620 Entrepreneurship and Leadership: Creating Winners
Peter Drucker once famously said that "entrepreneurs innovate." The course looks at how innovation drives the entrepreneurial process in both large organizations and in startup ventures. It stresses the importance of bringing entrepreneurial vision and energy to all organizations: profit and non-profit, as well as government and institutional. The course examines the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs. Participants will learn how to develop their own entreprenuerial instincts and how to encourage an entrepreneurial culture in their organizations. The course examines the challenges of startup ventures and provides practical information to participants who are considering an entrepreneurial venture. It explores strategies for identifying opportunities, creating successful business models, valuing a business, raising capital and managing the business. The course builds understanding of how a culture of entrepreneurhip and innovation are critical to any organization that wants to survive and prosper in the future. The course discusses how sustainability is becoming a global force for change, creating exceptional entrepreneurial opportunities. The course looks closely at the leadership roles of both the CEO in a large organization and the entrepreneur in a venture. The course examines how leaders in all kinds of organizations set priorities, identify game-changing opportunities, shape the organizational culture and motivate their teams to achieve outstanding performance or, sometimes, fail. The course stresses the leadership responsibilities of the board of directors in providing governance and oversight in both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6630 Green Skepticism: Communicating and Implementing Sustainable Business
Green initiatives are creating competitive advantage for businesses. Smart companies are integrating environmental stewardship into their strategies, operations, marketing, and product innovation. Companies that successfully embed sustinability in their their core business strategy and culture--rather than "bolting it on" as a peripheral activity - are gaining the most value added. Embedding sustainability requires the active engagement of all organizational stakeholders, many of whom may be green skeptics, dubious of the need to change. "Many people who feel passionately about sustainability cannot relate to those who have a harder time understanding the need for a change..." - Corporate associate & MBA candidate. The business case for sustainability has been made many times, yet skepticism about the need for change remains widespread. While adopting sustainable business practices must make sense financially, an economic argument alone may not be enough to convince people to purchase green business products and services or to implement sustainability practices. The course is based on the assumption that "task significance" is an important factor for implementing sustainable business practices. This means helping people see the connection between small tasks they are being asked to do and the big picture of global sustainable business.The first part of the course focuses on understanding sustainability driven changes in the global business landscape through a coherent framework. The second part of the course focuses on what those changes mean for business fundamentals: consumption, production systems, innovation, and emerging economies. The third part of the course focuses on communicating and implementing sustaianable business strategies and initiatives. Students will have the opportunity, with a team, to design a communication and implementation program for an organization. Throughout the course, strategies and tactics that work to engage skeptics who do not understand the need for change, as well as tactics that don't work, will be studied. The course is based on the instructor's experience leading hundreds of business and environmental professionals from skepticism to enthusiasm for sustainable business over the past decade. This course is designed for everyone tasked with engaging others in implementing sustainable business practices and for entrepreneurs selling green business products and services. It will provide strategies for enhancing a technical and economic sales pitch. The course is also for those who may be skeptical themselves, and want to reconsider their skepticism. Categories: A Concentrations LMC, SD
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6640 Organizational Culture and Learning
What is organizational culture? What is organizational learning? How do organizations learn effectively and change their culture? A learning organization is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge (Garvin, 1993). According to Ray Stata, Chairman of Analog Devices, "The rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage." However we define and prioritize organizational learning, we must still struggle with how to do it. This is a tougher question. The thesis of this seminar is that an enriched understanding of culture can enhance organizational learning. Participants will explore the concept of culture, study the work of Chris Argyris, and discover practices and behaviors that promote organizational learning and culture change. The objective of this seminar is to help participants get beyond highly abstract philosophy and develop a deeper understanding and useful skills based on these concepts. This course will meet on the following Wednesdays: May 27th; June 3rd, 10th, and 17th; July 22nd and 29th.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6660 Systems and Design Thinking
This course is designed to challenge the traditional thinking of basic management strategy and practice and to show why organizations must learn to think differently. This course takes a multidisciplinary approach to challenge participants to rethink their assumptions and move beyond the traditional practice of complex problem and management strategy formulation and execution. The course will look at the challenges and opportunities that come from integrating Systems and Design Thinking to create more sustainable solutions. The prevailing pattern of thought employed by management is analytical. A new pattern of thought is required: synthetic. Systems thinking involve both analysis - to produce knowledge of organizations (systems) - and synthesis to provide understanding. Without both, effective solutions to problems cannot be obtained. To go beyond understanding to wisdom requires awareness of the difference between doing things right (efficiency) and doing the right thing (effectiveness). The better we do the wrong thing, the more wrong we become. Today a great deal of energy is expended by organizations in an effort to increase the efficiency with which wrong things are done. This course looks at how systems and design thinking can increase the chances of making the right decisions; doing the right thing. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6690 The Power of Confusion
Confusion is a lack of clarity about some situation that matters to you, which causes you to feel so uncertain or uncomfortable that you have a hard time making decisions. You may be confused about whether you fit into an organization; or about what work makes you feel great versus work that you are good at or about the right thing to do when you are frightened. The power of confusion is that it forces you to stop and seek clarity in your life and career. This seminar addresses seven types of personal and organizational confusion encountered in organizational life during a professional career: 1) confusion over which personal ethics, skills, and talents you find most meaningful; 2) confusion over discovering what is really going on in an organization; 3) confusion of who is in charge--leadership and which direction 'we' are moving toward? 4) confusion over 'what's in it for me?' How motivation and satisfaction relate to incentives and pay schemes; 5) confusion caused by blaming, rather than developing skills needed to make lasting changes and improvements; 6) confusion about how teams pull together 7) confusion caused by committing random acts of improvement instead of building a system for making customer-oriented organizational innovations and improvements. You were not born with any inherited knowledge or wisdom, yet you are certain to face fear and confusion during your lifetime. You were born with curiosity and the ability to ask 'why?' when you face a confusing situation. You were also born with the ability to think for yourself, listen to others, and learn from experience. Confusion spurs you to use these abilities to gain the clarity that leads to understanding and wisdom; you will need tools to guide your learning. This seminar will show you how to use simple tools to achieve that clarity. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6710 Workplace Ethics: Ownership, Participation, Productivity
In this course, you will have the opportunity to: 1) examine ethical, religious, legal, technological, and economic bases for different ownership systems from early human history through the 20th century; 2) develop a theoretical framework for understanding ownership issues in the contemporary workplace; 3) review social science concerning ownership and the related organizational issues of motivation, performance, productivity, profitability, culture, diversity, and equity; 4) analyze a variety of cases to measure ownership's effects across many industries and business situations; 5) learn about various forms of ownership and compensation in use today in small and large organizations, both public and private; 6) utilize a diagnostic tool for assessing the ways in which your own organization's culture and business outcomes are impacted by the firm's ownership system; 7) describe your own experiences of the different ownership systems with which you may have engaged, including: family, schools, little leagues and professional sports, volunteer service organizations, charities, religious institutions, professional service providers (e.g., doctors, lawyers, veterinarians), the places where you shop (e.g., think about Genuardi's before and after it was sold to Safeway), and the different places you have worked...as a way of systems; 8) assess and refine your views regarding ownership in light of your own social, political, religious, andethical commitments. Who is going to own what we all have a part in creating? The history of American business is an evolving answer to the question of ownership. Of all the issues relevant to organizational dynamics, ownership is arguably the most important and least understood. Matters of ownership have also been and remain of intimate concern to ordinary Americans-the slave yearning to be free, the young couple with a dream of home ownership, the entrepreneru who wants to be his own boss, the consultant who wants to form a partnership with her best friends, and the indebted, mid-level manager reviewing last year's 401(k) statement. Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6730 Stories in Organizations: Tools for Executive Development
As we all know, living in--and out--of organizations is getting exponentially harder. Things seem to be multiplying, splintering, and coalescing kaleidoscopically, and each of us is increasingly taxed to make sense of it all, let alone create meaning for ourselves and those we manage and care about. Remarkably, a powerful tool for helping us is one we have already mastered: stories. As humans we think, feel, speak, listen, explain, and believe in narrative form. Yet this capability is dramatically under-exploited at work. This course examines a variety of ways to bring the power of stories to organizational life. We will look at how stories enhance communication, support change, and intensify learning and development in individuals and organizations, thus informing your leadership style and effectiveness. We will have many opportunities in class to apply "story-based technologies" to issues you face in personal or professional life. Readings come from the literatures of human development, narrative psychology, organizational change, executive learning, and, of course, from literature itself. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6750 Advanced Seminar in Organizational Politics
This course will meet both synchronously and asynchronously. The synchronous sessions will be Tuesday evenings from May 19th to July 7th. The goal of this course is to assess/advance the participant's competence in applying the "eighth habit"--that of organizational politics and power, in a variety pf organizational settings, system levels and contexts. Course requirements are: 1) a detailed learning log (to be supplied and reviewed weekly; 2) A political autobiography (guide to be supplied); 3) Active participation in all sessions; 4) Three interviews of senior managers on the topic of politics (interview guide to be supplied;Note: Additional interviews may be done for extra credit; 5) An assessment of the political map of a complex organization (map to be developed in class; 6) A peer completed assessment using the "political skills inventory" (see Ferris). Course permits for non-DYNM students: https://www.sas.upenn.edu/lps/graduate/dynamics/course-permit.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6760 Communication Competence: Extracting Value in Key Organizational Interactions
This course explores the direct and indirect relationships between interpersonal communication skills and the ability to derive increased value from organizational interactions. Participants will assess their own interpersonal communication skills while expanding their own communication practices within organizational contexts. At the same time, students will develop greater insights into their own organization’s communication norms. Students should prepare to be co-collaborators throughout the semester, adding personal insights and expertise to the conversation. Through this course, class participants will work to expand their personal communication repertoire as they develop critical listening and empathy skills. Participants will conduct their own communication skills assessment, determining their own communication strengths and identify specific areas for improvement. Finally, throughout the semester participants engage in creative multi-modal research projects, the findings of which will be presented in class. Non-Dynamics students: please include a brief job description in your Permissions Request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6770 Post-Disruptive Growth: Scaling and Growing for Individuals and Systems
Reality has moved from a physical location to a cognitive location--in our minds. An exceptionally hands-on course that brings in the intellectual discipline with real-time application to look at the shattering of assumptions in face of crisis (as the current one) and what happens to individuals, groups, communities, and systems - when the world takes the blue pill overnight (goes virtual and hyperreal). The interaction with the altered reality is often hindered by cognitive traps of ghost structures (i.e. only stay in memory but have disappeared from concrete reality) that lead to counter-productive decisions by individuals (personal and professional) and systems. The course is highly recommended for leaders and managers of complex organizational structures who must continue to create a "holding environment" for psychological safety for their teams, managers, leaders, customers, vendors, and themselves in redefining post-disruptive growth in micro-and-macro decisions for Value Creation in everyday interactions. There will be conceptual and experiential assignments that will enable rich scrutiny with immediate application in their work and life. This course will have both synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6800 Developing Emotional Intelligence through Art
This course is designed for those who want to increase their emotional intelligence awareness and understanding and develop their emotional intelligence skills. Students will explore the five competencies of emotional intelligence - self-awareness, self-management, motivation, empathy, and relationship management - using art as a creative tool for experiential learning. The course is a deep and innovative way of learning. It will engage students in an interactive and reflective way. It is a highly experiential, 100% hands-on course that requires personal commitment, an open mind and a desire to learn and grow in new, non-traditional and effective ways Participants will be able to use the tools and models to continue their development after the course as well as for implementing them in their coaching practice or leadership roles. This course is designed to: Develop emotional intelligence skills for successful relationship-building and transformational actions such as coaching, leadership, management and consulting. Support participant transformation based on strength-building. Provide effective and creative tools for experiential learning in the areas of coaching and leadership stimulate and encourage creativity and innovation in coaching practices and in the leadership space. Provide tools for on-going self-assessment and reflection, action planning and continuous development. Non-DYNM students: please include a brief job description in your permissions request.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6810 Diversity Beyond Lip Service: The Evolution of the Corporate Experience
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the future of work trends. The world has changed in ways that can't be undone. We must consider the new context for how we work inclusively in organizations, and the efficacy of our systems and practices to best serve internal and external stakeholders. This course is designed to help students navigate the cutting-edge of this corporate evolution. We will analyze theoretical approaches and practices for DEI strategy and implementation. Class sessions, case studies, everyday culture scenarios, group projects, DEI strategy proposals, and discussions will examine practical approaches to address the dynamics that create discomfort, fear, and apathy in organization leaders. Students will be encouraged to develop proactive and innovative solutions integrating modern theories and practical application to help mitigate this discomfort and fear; while also cultivating sustainable accountability and tangible outcomes. Students will gain practical skills to join the movement of the post-COVID workforce towards creating the long overdue--and lasting--social, cultural, organizational change, and evolution. DYNM Category: DE, A; DYNM Concentrations: LMC, GL, OC.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 6930 The Global Leader
The "Global Leader" is a co-listed INTS/DYNM course, developed as part of the Lauder Institute's new Global Program that will prepare students for leadership roles in international and culturally diverse envrionments. The course will focus on deveoping skills through a hands-on approach that includes using case students, in-class exercises, movie clips, and class discussion, with readings that emphasize theory and application. The ocurse is comprised of two modules. The first module - Globally Capable Leadership - will ingtroduce students to the core qualities of leadership that transcend culgtures, as well as examine how cultural context influences leadership efficacy. The second module - Managing Across Borders - will teach students how to negotiate effectively in a variety of contexts, including conflict resultion,k transactional settings, conflict resultion, and across borders, such as those of gender, ethnic identity, national culture, and differences in values and beliefs.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7050 Capstone Course
This course will help you prepare your Capstone Project by synthesizing previous Dynamics course materials and guiding you through the development phase of your final research project. You will learn how to: plan to create an academic research project; narrow a topic and frame a research question; establish a Capstone committee; conduct interdisciplinary research; develop a methodology that suits your research goals and timeline; read critically and write clearly for your specified audience.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7200 Foundations of Leadership Coaching
This five and a half-day intensive is the first in a cohort program in Leadership and Executive Coaching. During this course, students will experience the formation of a learning cohort, explore the foundational elements of helping relationships and the adult developmental journey, observe and respond to the dynamics that commonly affect groups, and begin applying coaching concepts and skills through interactive live coaching sessions. DYNM 7200 is wholly experiential, meaning learning will occur through students’ direct interaction with course exercises, and with peers in the class. The core requirement is a willingness and courage to “be yourself” and to be open to the impact your being has on others. This course is open to LCC members only.
Fall
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7220 The Four Provinces of Coaching
The territory of professional coaching spans four distinct provinces: The Coaching Context, The Coaching Relationship, The Coaching Process, and the Coaching Self. Each of these provinces represents a special area of interest and responsibility for practitioners, as well as an area of intellectual inquiry. This course continues to build on the foundational skills established in DYNM 7200 and DYNM 7230 through a practical exploration of the core theoretical perspectives that underlie and inform coaching practice. Knowledge of coaching theory serves to illuminate complex social phenomena, provides a sense of direction for your actions and choices in coaching, and helps you evaluate the results of your efforts in terms of client outcomes and progress. DYNM 7220 culminates with cohort members working together in small groups to research and execute a high-level presentation of the theoretical perspectives underlying each of the Four Provinces, as well as their applications in practice. This course is open to LCC students only.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7230 Becoming a Coach
The territory of professional coaching spans four distinct provinces: The Coaching Context, The Coaching Relationship, The Coaching Process, and the Coaching Self. Each of these provinces represents a special area of interest and responsibility for practitioners, as well as an area of intellectual inquiry. This course continues to build on the foundational skills established in DYNM 7200 and DYNM 7230 through a practical exploration of the core theoretical perspectives that underlie and inform coaching practice. Knowledge of coaching theory serves to illuminate complex social phenomena, provides a sense of direction for your actions and choices in coaching, and helps you evaluate the results of your efforts in terms of client outcomes and progress. DYNM 7220 culminates with cohort members working together in small groups to research and execute a high-level presentation of the theoretical perspectives underlying each of the Four Provinces, as well as their applications in practice. This course is open to LCC Students only.
Spring, even numbered years only
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7240 Beyond the Dyad: Group Coaching Theory and Practice
This course explores the application of coaching principles, models, and techniques in the context of groups and teams. While most coaching is dyadic in nature, coaching in group or team settings requires an understanding of the complex social dynamics that shape learning and change in groups, as well as the levers and mechanisms that enable collective action toward common goals. The course is designed to build on and complement your growing base of scholarship and practice from 7200, 7220, and 7230. This hybrid course blends synchronous virtual class sessions and team meetings with asynchronous learning, readings, and other self-study activities. It is a highly experiential course combining conceptual knowledge, integrated practice, and interactive sessions that serve the development of group and team coaching competency, capability, and capacity. Learners will participate in real time collaborative team projects, through which they will experience team coaching as both client and coach. They will also meet regularly in peer coaching groups to reflect on their personal learning, emergent challenges, and achievements in the course. Course limited to those in the LCC concentration.
Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7270 Practicum Experience in Consulting and Coaching
Participants integrate everything they have learned by contracting with a client to provide consulting/coaching services. Individual supervision is provided on a weekly basis by a core faculty member and peer supervision is provided in two clinics, where cohort members share their experiences and learning with one another and, at the conclusion of the second clinic, bid the cohort farewell as members are now ready for their internship experiences. This course is open to OCEC students only. This course fills the following Organizational Dynamics requirements: Categories: A Concentrations: OCEC
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7290 Executive Coaching Internship
In this course, each participant is exposed to a variety of executive coaching opportunities designed to enable them to utilize their skills in multiple situations and contexts. Access to an advisor/coach during this period ensures that each participant's advanced learning will be provided in a timely and individualized manner.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7580 Sweden: Strategies for Thriving in the 21st Century
Neutral during WWII, and claiming a "Middle Way" between east and west in the post-war twentieth century, Sweden - its people, institutions, and culture - has left its mark on our global society. In today's world, the influence of Swedish ideas and innovations can be seen in government structures, health and social policies, business organizations, working life, education, science, art, literature, and, of course, the design and style of many products and services which enjoy high demand. These are impressive impacts from a nation-state of only eight million people. What lessons are there for Americans and our institutions as we enter the twenty-first century where our leadership position, ability to determine the rules and control the agenda of world economic and political affairs are diminished? In this course, we focus on "the people philosophy" of Sweden, its government, businesses and organizations. We cover healthcare issues and policy, sustainable development, the European Community and the human relations issues in organizations. This course will include meetings with academics and leaders from industry, government, health care, science, media, arts and culture. Students will meet with and learn from these representatives in order to explore Swedish organizational dynamics, both in terms of its economic prosperity and the problems Swedish society faces today.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7660 Global Collaboration for Sustainability - The Food-Water-Energy Nexus in Italy
Environmentalist Paul Hawken challenged a class of 2009 college graduates that they would have to "figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating." That theme is at the heart of this course. Our quality of life in the near future hinges on the development and implementation of sustainable solutions to the enormously complex environmental and social problems embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals -- particularly around food, water, energy, and waste. This course is designed to foster the thinking, and the collaborative spirit, that is needed to address those enormous problems. It involves focusing on a critical global sustainability problem with vast social, cultural, and environmental dimensions -- in this case, the need to balance global food, water, and energy needs in a manner that allows the world to feed 9.6 billion citizens by 2050 while preserving the environment for future generations. It also involves collaboration and the exchange of ideas between multi-disciplinary leaders and students from multiple countries, and perspectives on how to manage diverse views and sustainability initiatives that are extremely relevant to the success of today’s organizations (i.e. how to lead “big change” for competitive advantage). DYNM 7660 will explore the food-water-energy nexus in Italy amid a culture that literally celebrates food, with special emphasis on the systemic challenge of global food loss and waste. The course will involve a special session with experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in Rome – the hub of agriculture and food security research for the world – and additional sessions on food, water, energy, SDG and innovation topics with international students and food system experts at the University of Bologna (the oldest University in the world) and the Food Innovation Program led by food system leader Sara Roversi. Potential side trips include tours of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and balsamic vinegar producers, a pasta producer, an Italian supermarket, FICO/Eataly, and Food For Soul (Modena). Students will have some time to explore the wonders of Rome and Bologna on their own as well.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7700 Process Excellence in South America: Chile on Its Journey to Productivity and Performance
This course will travel to Chile July 21st through 29th. The class will meet on campus before and after departure on dates to be determined. This course will have an additional course fee to cover lodging and other program logistics. Registration permits will be issued upon a signed Travel Agreement being returned to the Organizational Dynamics program office. Chile is a long and narrow strip of land along the pacific coast of South America. It is the longest country in the world, 2,700 miles in length, which is about the distance from San Francisco to New York. In 1973 the military imposed a dictatorship, led by Augusto Pinochet, who ruled the country until 1990. The Chilean strategy to be part of the world economy has been based on open markets and the development of Free Trade Agreements. A report by The Economist Intelligence Unit shows Chile has the best environment in the region for business and is among the top 20 countries worldwide. Chile stands out for the effectiveness of its policies, labor, and infrastructure. The strength and stability of its banking and financial systems have generated high credibility indexes inforeign markets, which has meant that big companies want to invest in the country, improving access to goods and services. Chilean companies have started improving the way they organize themselves. Business Process Management and Digitalization have become important topics in many organizations. The Universidad de Chile offers numerous courses and certificates in that field. Chile is making good progress on it journey to productivity and performance. Students will meet with academics and business leaders and observe the organizational dynamics of Students will also learn Chile's journey to high performance and what it measn to do business with organizations in this emerging market.
Fall or Spring
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7810 Dynamic Hub of the Americas: Entrepreneurship & Sustainable Development on the
Creating meaningful solutions to the biggest challenges facing humanity today requires diverse interventions at all scales: macro, micro, and everything in between. The projects reshaping business as usual and driving more sustainable outcomes involve both multinational cooperation at the highest levels and place-specific interventions at the scale of individuals, families, and communities. This course will explore innovative, cross-scale initiatives through which Central America’s largest and fastest growing economy is tackling sustainability challenges while balancing cultural values and conservation of biodiversity with economic growth and exploitation of natural resources. On the international stage, the Republic of Panama leads the way on environmental conservation, even surpassing ambitious global targets by protecting more than 50 percent of its oceans and becoming one of the first certified carbon-negative countries. The globalization-defining Panama Canal epitomizes human efforts to make something happen that was colossal in scale and macro in scope. Today’s Panama also offers opportunities to study bright spots, positive deviance, and the emergence of new economic initiatives based on diverse worldviews—despite the micro scale of some of these projects, they too have the potential to change world order. Geographically, politically, culturally, and economically, Panama is an excellent place to prototype. Underdeveloped relative to its potential, the nation provides a fruitful environment for Panamanian and expatriate entrepreneurs alike to develop new ventures, organize from the ground up, and intentionally design for sustainable scalability. At the core of this experiential travel course is the opportunity to visit a range of Panama’s land, sea, and cityscapes and interact with pioneering companies, entrepreneurs, policymakers, NGOs, and scientists. Organizational Dynamics students will be challenged to create and contribute while learning in this dynamic environment. Travel abroad will take place in Panama over Penn’s Spring Break (March 1-10, 2024), with pre-departure and post-trip sessions TBD. Students are expected to complete readings in advance of the trip, keep a field journal, participate in scheduled meetings and activities, complete a paper or applied project synthesizing their learning, and give a presentation on their work during the final session. Interested students will sign a travel agreement. There will be an additional course fee to cover logistics.
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7860 European Approaches to Multi-Stakeholder Project Management
In the interconnected world of global corporations, studying Project Management from the standpoint of U.S. firms is not enough. Broadening perspectives is the goal of the seminar in Paris, France. Dr. Jean-Marc Choukroun will lead Organizational Dynamics students in a study of European approaches to the challenges of large project management, particularly those involved in public-private and other multi-group projects. Dr. Choukroun notes that "In today's global economy, managing multi-national, multi-cultural teams, devising innovative financing arrangements and securing public-private cooperation are increasingly becoming standard requirements for complex projects. European integration has made dealing with these issues a priority with many European organizations. Students will be exposed to new ideas, and new ways of applying time-tested methods and techniques that European organizations in general, and more specifically French organizations, have developed to address these issues. Properly adapted, some of these ideas should prove to be readily applicable in the US context. In addition, students will discover how French managers in the public and private sectors frame issues, approach problems and implement solutions."
Summer Term
1 Course Unit
DYNM 7870 The Intersection Between Business Agility and Sustainability and Its Impact on Organizational Design
This course requires a signed Travel Agreement prior to registration. This course will have an additional course fee to cover logistical arrangements. For the last three years, Organizational Dynamics has partnered with Human Resources at ING, a global financial services firm headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, through our course “Developing the Agile Leader and Their Organization.” Our partnership with ING has allowed our students to learn and gain practical experience with Agile mindset and methods. ING is a pioneer in the implementation of agile business practices especially in their HR programs. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. As a financial institution, ING can play a role by financing change, sharing knowledge, and using their influence. Being sustainable is not just about reducing their own impact, it’s in all the choices they make—as a lender, in their financing and through the services they offer their customers. That’s why sustainability is inherent to their purpose of empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. At ING in the Netherlands (DBNL), they have sharpened their Vision ‘Sustainable progress for all.’ They have set extra ambitions and targets on sustainability and launched a program to deliver new sustainable propositions. ING calls on all domains to create a roadmap by which they will be able to achieve its sustainability goals and ambitions. But how does such a central program relate to their Agile way of working where tribes have a lot of autonomy? ING is looking forward to expanding their relationship with Organizational Dynamics at Penn by inviting our students to join with their team to identify potential strategies for moving ahead with their sustainability efforts using an agile framework. The course includes daily meetings, seminars, tours, and networking with ING leaders and staff. In addition, the participants will also have an opportunity to meet with and learn from Dutch representatives involved in academia, government, healthcare, art, science, culture, and the media.
Not Offered Every Year
1 Course Unit
DYNM 8990 MPhil Capstone Registration
Course is used for MPhil Capstone Registration.
0 Course Units