STCO 550 Best Practices: Transforming the Digital Organization

Today’s organizations face constant pressures to change—the need to change is one of the hallmarks of contemporary organizations, whether it’s a government entity, a private business, a not-for-profit, or an educational institution. For organizational members and managers, the ability to effectively facilitate organizational change often distinguishes the implementation of a mediocre solution from an extraordinary one that makes a difference. In this class, we will examine the issues and practices of organization development to understand what kinds of interventions are useful in what situations to make change possible.

This course examines the major components of organization development and design: the evolution of organization development, the nature of change, and how to effectively manage and implement change in organizations. We will discuss the OD process in-depth to familiarize you with the process of contracting, data gathering, diagnosis, giving feedback, conducting interventions, and evaluating results. We will look at different options for structuring organizations, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each, and discuss how to implement an organizational design change.

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview. 

Discussion: Class Video Introductions

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will record a short video introducing himself or herself to the class. The student will post this in his or her first thread, The length of the video is up to the student. The student will also post a written response of 200 words to 2 other classmates’ video introductions.

Discussions (3)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to provide a thread of at least 400 words in response to a provided prompt for each discussion. The student must also reply to at least 2 other classmates’ threads, and each reply must be at least 200 words.

The outline must be prepared in the current APA format. The outline should include the following: introduction, main points, and conclusion using complete, succinct sentences. Each of these main sections must have a main APA-formatted heading. The outline itself may incorporate bullet-point items, alphanumeric structure, or whatever outline structure the student finds most comfortable. However, each bullet point or outline item should be a full sentence. Remember, each section must contain at least three (3) sentences, and the outline itself must be in APA format.

Sources must be used and properly cited in APA format. Parenthetical citations and a properly formatted References page are required. There should be at least 7 sources used including the course textbook and the Bible. These references will be the foundation of the more extensive references required for the upcoming Literature Review and the Final Application Paper. Again, the outline and reference/works cited page must be in current APA format. A Title Page and Abstract are required.

Application Paper: Literature Review Assignment

The student will write a 5–7-page paper on a topic or issue of interest to him/her from the textbook readings, and which will then serve as the topic for his or her Final Application Paper. The Literature Review will use/cite a minimum of 17 sources as delineated in the instructions. These sources must be used/cited in the text properly (parenthetically as per APA) and listed properly on the References page(s). Again, the paper is to be fully formatted according to current APA style.

Application Paper: Final Assignment

The student will write a Research Paper on a topic or issue of interest to him/her from the textbook readings. The previously completed Application Paper Outline should provide the basic foundation for this Final Application Paper. The Literature Review completed earlier in the course, in shortened form, will serve as the research content of the Final Application Paper. The student will use the topic chosen for the Literature Review to write the Research Paper. Not counting the Title, Abstract, and Reference pages, the Final Application Paper Assignment is required to be 8–10 full pages. A minimum of seventeen (17) references should be used cited in the text of the paper. Two (2) of the sources must be the Bible and the textbook. Of course, all sources used/cited should appear, properly formatted and presented as per APA, on the References pages.

Quizzes (8)

Each Module: Week there will an assigned quiz included with the textbook readings for the student to complete. Each quiz will consist of 25 true/false and multiple choice questions. The student will have 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete each quiz.

Quiz: MIDTERM

This quiz will cover the Learn material completed in the modules: weeks covered prior to the exam. The quiz will consist of 100 multiple choice, true/false, and essay questions. The exam will be open-book/open-notes and will have a time limit of 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Quiz: FINAL

This Quiz will cover the Learn material completed in the modules: weeks covered after the Quiz: MIDTERM assignment and prior to this quiz. The quiz will consist of 100 multiple choice, true/false, and essay questions. The exam will be open-book/open-notes and will have a time limit of 2 hours and 45 minutes.