Master in Management
Electives
Nonprofit Organization Management
MM 530, PS439/539
Winter/Spring 2005
Roi Crouch, MSW
Kathy Bryon, MPH
Course Description
A survey course, with practicum experience, designed to orient students to primary areas of responsibility of managers of nonprofit organizations and to provide working managers with a framework for meeting workplace challenges in each of these areas. This class will be highly interactive and bring a number of community professionals into the classroom as learning resources.
The course will be offered over two quarters, with a total of two credits each quarter. Students will be expected to spend a minimum of twelve hours in fieldwork, carrying out specific assignments, such as interviews with nonprofit leadership, board assessments, and participation in management and governance meetings. Students will also be expected to select an actual workplace challenge to address and to write a ten page paper on steps they took to resolve the challenge. Activities include reading, lecture, discussion, field placement with a local non-profit organization, activity journal, student presentations, and dialogue with nonprofit leaders.
Required Text
Gelatt, James P. Managing Nonprofit Organizations in the 21st Century, Oryx Press, 1992. Selected readings reprinted from several texts.
Outcomes
- Students will demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of nonprofit management issues and contemporary challenges through class participation, a field practicum, a journal based on practicum experience, and a written, ten-page plan for a workplace challenge.
- Students will demonstrate academic and hands-on familiarity with key management tools and concepts such as leadership styles, governance assessments, strategic planning, and board development.
Course Outline
Winter Term: 2 credits (18 hour classroom contact + 4 hours practicum)
Thursdays January 6 & 20, 2005 6:00-9:30
The Non-Profit Sector - How it is organized
- Introduction and establishment of student profile and their goals and expectations
- Overview of course / explanation of requirements / journal / NPO practicum
- History and philosophy of American nonprofit organizations, organizational change and development, learning organizations, current issues
- NPO Sector % of GNP, what are the potential implications of that? How has that changed from 1960 to 2004?
Management, Leadership, Stewardship
- Stewardship Exercise from NCNPB to demonstrate stewardship & leadership of board and staff
- Panel of Community Leaders
- Leadership Style self assessment- Center for Creative Leadership
- Leadership / Management- Dialogue based on the process of what students learned from panel, readings, and interviews with nonprofit leaders.
- Assignment: Establish practicum with nonprofit organization - arrange for board assessment and identify workplace challenge for 10 page paper
- Assignment: Interview two NPO leaders (both an executive director and a board member) to obtain their definition of leadership vs. management - key characteristics needed for leadership.
- Assignment: Attend management meeting of nonprofit organization - observations on leadership style.
Thursdays February 3 & 17, 2005 6:00-9:30 p.m.
Board Roles & Responsibilities
- Leadership recruitment & development
- Board member panel
- Organizational Assessments / Board Evaluations
- Assignment: Attend Board meeting - conduct Board assessment
- Assignment: Recruit Board member to attend 2/28 discussion on assessment
- Assignment: Students bring values, vision, mission statements to next class from two NPOs
- Assignment: Students prepare one page summary of practicum project (may work in groups of 2 or 3) on a workplace challenge in a specific Nonprofit setting (e.g.; Organizational Assessment, Fund Development Plan, Marketing Plan, Board, Staff or Volunteer Manual, Website Development, Technology Plan, Special Event)
Thursdays March 3 & 17 6:00-9:30
Board Roles & Responsibilities
- Student reports on board meetings and board assessments
Values, Mission, Vision
- Values and vision: Think about personal guiding principles and values
- Exercise of Students Values-Class's shared Values Incorporating values in everyday operations
- Mission Statement: Mission statement handout- do the collected mission statements reflect these key components of a mission statement?
- Small group work: Smythe River Center case study on NPO organizational development issues / mission and values
Spring Term: 2 credits (12 hours classroom contact + 8 hours field practicum)
Thursday April 7 6:00-9:30
Strategic Planning
- Strategic Planning Discussion / Exercise and Tools:
- Timeline
- Environmental Scan
- Discussion: SP models / Student experiences / management issues raised
- Review and schedule student presentations for spring session
Thursday April 21 6:00-9:30
Non-Profits as Learning Organizations
- Student/Board member discussion on board self-assessments
- Learning Organizations / Wheel of Learning / Systems Thinking
- Leadership in learning organizations
Thursday, May 12 6:00 - 9:30
Resource Development
- Overview on fund raising methods, creating the fund raising plan, linkage to budget and strategic plan, use of consultants, resources required for successful fund raising
- Review practicum assignments / schedule presentations
Thursday, May 28 6:00-9:30
Student Practicum Presentations
Closure and course evaluation
