Leadership and
Organizations

The Strategic Innovation and Change master’s degree specialty is offered online or on campus at the University of Denver in the evenings, or in a combination of both, to meet the needs of busy adults. Change is inevitable, but dynamic transformation? That’s a choice. Earn a leadership master’s degree in Strategic Innovation and Change at University College and learn what it takes to thrive in an age of innovation and strategy. Degree−seekers will learn to implement tactical innovation and change using vision, values, and missions as an overall guide. Gain efficiency throughout your organization and develop accountability within your community through a strategy degree that will propel you to greater heights in your career. Led by professional practitioners who work in the fields they teach, classes teach professionals how to align budget, strategy, and institutional goals that will help fulfill your organization’s mission.

Students can expect to develop environmental scanning skills—from the economy to technology, master’s degree students will learn to identify and evaluate external factors that affect an organization on a micro or macro level while preparing them to be solution−oriented leaders. Learning to take advantage of current realities and seize opportunities as part of an organization’s leadership, degree−seekers will be able to explore the change theories and concepts required for effective and ethical change leadership and how the relationships within an organization are affected.

Organizations are analyzed from the viewpoint of strategic alignment of their critical frames of operation including financial management and aligning budget and planning with institutional goals. The concept of innovation not being a one−time event, but instead part of a larger process and vision is discussed throughout the Strategic Innovation and Change master’s degree specialty. Customize your Leadership and Organizations master’s degree through the innovative Professional Options Curriculum using our convenient online degree builder tool, which allows you to select courses that cater to your specific career needs.

This degree prepares students to:

• Define the role of mission, vision, values, and goals as a start of strategic planning


• Articulate and discuss the advantages and limitations of the strategic planning process


• Identify the areas to be addressed in implementing innovation and change; customers, competitors, suppliers, technology


• Explore the change theories and concepts and skills required for effective and ethical change leadership and how the relationships within an organization are affected


• Discuss how financial management and budget and planning need to align with the vision, values, and goals of an organization

Leadership and Organizations Outcomes

This program prepares students to:

• Identify a clear mission and lead the dynamic process of translating a mission in to a series of goals and outcomes
• Utilize the knowledge of an organization's most important resource, people, in the creation and transmission of knowledge and economic, cultural, and technological change
• Align mission, vision, people, resources, and goals to maximize success and value over time for an organization
• Design and implement processes and content in organizations to meet the description of organizational excellence, which includes strong leadership and relationships

Careers in Strategic Innovation and Change

Titles
Strategy Manager, Product Management Director (ranked #15 in Money Magazine), Business Development Analyst (ranked #45 in Money Magazine), Project Manager, Director of Strategy and Innovation, Marketing Manager, Key Leader, Human Resources Manager, Consultant.

Duties
Innovative ideas generation, strategic thought and alliance, organizational alignment, collaboration, research, problem-solving, troubleshooting, idea generation, development, training, review and evaluation, management.

Outlook
Individuals who know how to effect change are essential in a struggling economy, as companies seek to make the most out of budgets, labor, and strategy. Chief Strategy Officer, a new role that has been popularized in several organizations, seeks to capitalize on innovation and push out the competition, according to Accenture. "Strategy development has become a continuous process, and successful execution therefore depends more than ever on rapid and effective decision making,” Accenture reports.