Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship

Ross School of Business

 
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POS Course Syllabi

We welcome people who are teaching POS-related courses to send their syllabi to us at positiveorg@umich.edu and we will distribute them on this Web site.

Syllabi for Undergraduate and Graduate Courses

University of Michigan, cross-listed PSYCH 808.006 and MO899
Jane Dutton and Barbara Fredrickson co-taught a doctoral course on Positive Organizing and Human Flourishing.
View the course syllabus.

University of Michigan, MO 615
Jane Dutton taught this course on managing professional relationships from a POS perspective. The course syllabus has embedded teaching notes in it for most classes. Click on each class number to access the teaching notes.
View the course syllabus.

University of Michigan, MO 314
MO314 is an undergrad elective taught by Gretchen Spreitzer on managing change that is taught in a business school (about half of the students are from other disciplines around the university). The course covers individual change, organizational change, and change skills. In addition to the syllabus, in-depth teaching notes are provided on several of the topics that have a distinct POS flavor to them. Please share any reactions you have to the materials.
View the course syllabus.

University of Michigan, MO/OBHRM 501
Jane Dutton taught this course on how to create, foster and manage organizations in which people thrive and perform at their best, assuming that employee and group thriving is the key to organizational excellence.
View the course syllabus.

Please note:This syllabus and its related teaching notes are Microsoft Word documents. Upon clicking the link, you may be presented with a dialog box asking whether you would like to open the file directly in your web browser or save the file to your hard drive. For best results, we recommend that you save the file to your hard drive before viewing it.

Gonzaga University, DPLS 742
Karen Norum taught Organizational Change and Appreciative Inquiry, which looks at the emerging field of Positive Organizational Scholarship and specifically, Appreciative Inquiry. A highlight of the class is the sharing of the Best Self portraits.
View the course syllabus.

Gonzaga University, DPLS 758
Karen Norum taught Leadership and Literature with a theme of Hope and Affirmation. Positive leadership was examined through different kinds of literature (poetry, biography, historical fiction, wisdom stories, etc.).
View the course syllabus.
Learn more about the Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University.

University of Pennsylvania, DYNM 673
This is a Master's level course on Organizational Resilience offered at the University of Pennsylvania for working professionals. It is part of a concentration of courses leading to a Master of Science degree in Organizational Dynamics.
View the course syllabus.
Learn more about the Organizational Dynamics program at the University of Pennsylvania.

University of Nebraska at Omaha and Agder University College in Norway, ORG 420
The aim of this course is to enrich the students' perspectives about the relationship between leaders and followers in organizations. While most approaches depict managers as the crucial actors, the perspectives included in this course emphasize the role of the subordinates.
View the course syllabus.

Case Western Reserve University, ORBH 444
This is a course on Positive Organizational Analysis and Development offered for Executive MBAs and taught by David Cooperrider at Case Western Reserve University.
View the course syllabus.
View course slides.
[2 MB File Size | High-speed Internet Connection Recommended]

University of Alberta, OA 633
This is a master's level elective course on "Managing Organizational Change" in the University of Alberta School of Business MBA program. Karen Golden-Biddle taught this course, which has a natural focus on POS through both its content (everyday leading, enacting high quality connections, crafting positive organizing practices, drawing on and changing cultural competences) and its pedagogy of building the learning community's capacity for navigating the dynamics of change.
View the course syllabus.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, BUSADMIN 996
This is a syllabus for a doctoral course in micro-organizational behavior taught by Belle Ragins. In the course, Belle covers a range of the core OB topics, and integrates POS-related articles where possible.
View the course syllabus.