Organizational Performance and Change (OPC)

Degree Requirements and Curriculum

Requirements

This master's program requires the student to complete 36 credit hours. The program is designed in a cohort-based format to ensure this requirement is met.

Curriculum

This master's program is organized into six, 10-week semesters, consisting of two courses per semester. Classes meet one evening per week from 5 pm - 9:30 pm at the Denver Learning Center or Brighton Learning Center. Registration and purchasing of textbooks is completed in Denver or Brighton and does not require travel to the Fort Collins campus.

The course schedule is designed for working professionals and includes considerable breaks between fall and spring semesters, and a substantial summer break to ensure that students can work and maintain outside responsibilities while pursuing the degree.

Read all of the course descriptions.

The Learning Experience

Class size is kept small to encourage the participation and interaction that has earned the program a reputation for excellence in learning. In addition to being research and content experts in their fields, faculty members serve as catalysts, facilitating debate on issues and ideas by experienced professionals with highly diverse backgrounds and perspectives.

The master's program coursework addresses skill development and understanding as students learn about performance management, management consulting, power, politics, and influence in organizations, and intervention strategies that can be applied to real-world work situations. Assignments are designed to analyze current organizational processes so students are able to produce viable, immediate solutions for their employers, thus instantly increasing their strategic acumen and credibility.

The faculty use action learning principles to produce functional and engaging learning communities. Action learning enables students to effectively learn to simultaneously handle difficult, real-life situations. Learning communities help students increase their self-confidence and encourage addressing problems from new perspectives. This unique approach helps students develop the critical thinking skills of a Change Agent through project-based assignments which are problem-focused, practically applied, and theory-to-practice oriented. Students are uniquely prepared and learn how to be more adept at problem solving, building relationships and solving organizational issues.