Master of Science in Positive Organization Development (MPOD)Curriculum

Empowering you to lead with purpose.

Our Master of Leadership and Organizational Change (MLOC) curriculum is intentionally structured for working professionals like you who need to balance leadership roles with graduate study. 

In your coursework, you’ll develop deep leadership capabilities through applied learning and real organizational work that culminates in the Mastery Project, in which you will lead a meaningful change initiative in your organization.

Program Design

Complete 30 credit hours over 15 months through our primarily online, hybrid program with four in-person residencies, two in Cleveland, one international trip and an additional hybrid or in-person residency. We help you integrate learning into your professional life with key elements including: 

  • Immersive, in-person residencies that deepen leadership development and learning anchored in authentic challenges and applied leadership practice.
  • Lock-step cohort progression that fosters trust, continuity and sustained support among peers with a shared vision for improving systems and bringing meaningful organization experience.
  • Evidence-based leadership frameworks developed by Weatherhead faculty through decades of scholarship and used globally to motivate people, navigate resistance and sustain change in complex systems.
  • Immediate workplace applications that connect insight directly to organizational and community impact, bolstering your accountability. 

Residencies and Mastery Project

Led by world-class leaders in organizational development, you have the opportunity to complete  individual field projects in three thematic areas: 

  • Leadership
  • Team and interpersonal effectiveness
  • Organizational development and systematic change

Partner with faculty to design and implement self-initiated, self-paced projects, perform real-world challenges and participate in practicums with actual clients in the field.

In your final semester, you will undertake a Mastery Project where you will lead a meaningful change initiative in your own organization. Through this project, you can: 

  • Design and execute a real organizational development project with an employer, client or organization you are already connected with
  • Apply evidence-based leadership and change management frameworks including Appreciative Inquiry, Emotional Intelligence and systems thinking to a live organizational challenge
  • Mobilize stakeholders and sustain momentum through the complexity that real organizational change involves
  • Demonstrate measurable impact on your organization and deepen your organizational leadership practice through structured reflection

Leadership Grounded in Evidence

Focused on developing organizational excellence and effective team relationships, MLOC courses are grounded in internationally recognized Weatherhead scholarship. The faculty you will learn from have shaped the global practice of leadership and organizational change. 

Weatherhead’s MLOC program is among a small number of master’s programs emphasizing strengths-based, human-centered approaches to organizational development, change leadership, and sustainable impact.

Curriculum

Learn about the curriculum of the Master of Leadership and Organizational Change (MLOC) program at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management. Future course descriptions may not yet be available, check back periodically for updates. 

Fall 2025

Spring 2026

Fall 2026

Spring 2027

Summer 2027

Fall 2027