Organizational Leadership, Ed.D.

Introduction

The Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership program is designed to be relevant, practical, flexible, process-driven, and research-focused. Leadership development is viewed as an integrated and sustained process, not as an event, or series of disconnected events. The leadership concepts and understandings embedded in the program are designed to be relevant and will be connected to and applied within the leader’s real world and work environment. The program is designed to be interdisciplinary. Leaders from the following types of organizations are welcome to participate in the Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership program:

• K12 Education

• Higher Education

• Non-profit organizations

• Health care networks and agencies

• Law Enforcement

• Business

• Government agencies

• Faith-based organizations

• Social Work  

• Counseling

Degree Requirements

The Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership (Ed.D. in OL) is a 54-credit program, beyond a Master of Arts degree. Program courses in the Ed.D. program are offered through classroom instruction (including online assignments) and intensive, one-on-one work with a Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP) chair throughout the development and completion of the DiP. The Ed.D. program proceeds through successive (cohort-based) stages of coursework and development of the DiP. Throughout the stage of coursework, Ed.D. students develop a series of competencies that demonstrate core leadership understanding in the form of practice-oriented artifacts. Specific leadership competencies are identified in course syllabi as well as the learning outcomes for each competency, twenty of which are required for program completion, as described below. 

Year 1 (Fall/Spring/Summer – 3 credit courses)

LEAD 6010: Leading Your Organization

LEAD 6020: Engaging Communities and Stakeholders

LEAD 6030: Adapting to Change and Complexity

LEAD 6040: Transforming an Organizational Culture

LEAD 6050: Thinking Creatively, Innovatively, and Entrepreneurially

LEAD 6001: Competency Artifact Completion I (0 credits)

Year 2 (Fall/Spring/Summer – 3 credit courses)

LEAD 6100: Quantitative and Qualitative Research

LEAD 6071: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

LEAD 6002: Competency Artifact Completion II (0 credits)

LEAD 6080: Cultivating Organizational Talent and Innovation

LEAD 6500: Research Design

LEAD 6003: Competency Artifact Completion III (0 credits)

LEAD 6800: Dissertation-in-Practice Proposal Development I

LEAD 6004: Competency Artifact Completion IV (0 credits)

Year 3 (Fall/Spring/Summer – 3 credit courses unless otherwise indicated)

LEAD 6061: Ethics, Evaluation, Assessing, & Planning

LEAD 6801: Dissertation-in-Practice Proposal Development II

LEAD 7100: Dissertation-in-Practice/Action Research (6 credits)

LEAD 7101: Dissertation-in-Practice/Action Research (6 credits)

Year 4 (Fall) Culminating Dissertation/Action Research Experience (6 credits)

LEAD 7102: Dissertation-in-Practice/Action Research

Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP)/Action Research

The DiP is the culminating, or capstone, experience of the Stockton University Ed.D. program in Organizational Leadership. The Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate defines this experience as the integration of organizational settings with theory, research, and practice. This integration enables the implementation, measurement, analysis, and evaluation of authentic, complex ideas and problems of practice in organizational settings. DiPs represent “Laboratories of Practice” that facilitate transformative and synthesized learning through the development of scholarly expertise and the implementation of (action research) organizational practice.

Students are assigned a Dissertation-in-Practice Chair at the start of their second summer term. A DiP Chair supervises each student’s research/dissertation activities for the duration of the program during the following courses: LEAD 6800, LEAD 6801, LEAD 7100, LEAD 7101, and LEAD 7102. During LEAD 7100, (a) Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP) Committee Members (DCMs) may be selected for each student, and (b) each student’s three-chapter dissertation proposal is reviewed by the LEAD Dissertation Committee and must receive approval before submission to the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The LEAD Dissertation Committee is composed of LEAD DiP Chairs and DCMs. 

Students earn a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership only upon successful/approved defense of their dissertation by the LEAD Dissertation Committee during their completion of the final course, LEAD 7102.

Dissertation-In-Practice/Action Research Purpose

• The purpose of a doctoral candidate’s DiP (action research) implementation is to make a positive difference in, and provide practice-based recommendations for, an organizational setting in which the candidate currently is serving. Alternatively, the DiP may focus on the analysis of organizational problems in practice more generally.   

• The purpose of a candidate’s DiP is to investigate an organizational problem, issue, or concern by developing and implementing a systematic and methodical action research plan.

• The DiP experience develops research skills and knowledge leaders need to understand and utilize in making organizational change or formulating policy decisions. DiP candidates acquire research literacy through the application of quantitative or qualitative methods to the analysis of organizational data and information, while simultaneously assessing the validity, applicability, and limitations of their DiP research.    

• The DiP experience is an action research process that culminates in a systematic, research-based plan of action that benefits organizational practice, change, and leadership.

Competency Artifacts

The Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership program places high value on applied leadership growth and development. For students to display their leadership growth throughout the program, there is a program-level requirement to complete competency artifacts that evidence and display a student’s leadership growth in their own context. Each student must complete 20 competency artifacts, based on the core leadership understandings, in accordance with the program guidelines and timeframes.

Five competencies are due by the end of the first summer term (LEAD 6001 course); five due by the end of the second fall semester (LEAD 6002 course); five due by the end of the second spring semester (LEAD 6003 course); and five due by the end of the second summer term (LEAD 6004 course). All 20 competencies must be submitted to the student’s preceptor. Students who fail to meet the deadlines may be subject to not continuing in the Program. This structure allows LEAD students to complete competencies by the start of the dissertation phase.

LEAD Classes as Electives for MBA/MHAL Students

MBA/MHAL students may take up to two LEAD courses as electives. Should the student subsequently choose to apply to the LEAD Program, these courses will be credited towards their doctoral degree if a grade of at least a B- is earned. Courses specifically available as electives are limited to the following leadership-related courses:

• LEAD 6010: Leading Your Organization

• LEAD 6020: Engaging Communities and Stakeholders

• LEAD 6030: Adapting to Change and Complexity

• LEAD 6040: Transforming an Organizational Culture

• LEAD 6050: Thinking Creatively, Innovatively, and Entrepreneurially

• LEAD 6061: Ethics, Evaluation, Assessing, & Planning

• LEAD 6071: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• LEAD 6080: Cultivating Organizational Talent and Innovation

These are 3-credit courses, seven of the courses are Sub term A or B courses and schedule as online synchronous on specified weekends: Fridays 6-9pm & Saturdays 8am-4pm. The exception is LEAD 6050, which is a summer intensive in-person course typically scheduled for the 3rd week in July each summer term. The class meets Sunday - Friday at times specified by the instructor but typically Sunday 6-9pm & Monday-Friday 8am-4pm. Here, the students meet in-person for class but also meet in-person in their teams to work on assigned projects.

Direct Entry for MBA/MHAL Students

The Direct Entry option allows MBA or MHAL students to enter the LEAD Program without the submission of a full application or application fee. Students must have a 3.85 GPA in their respective master’s program and have a recommendation from the MBA/MHAL Program supporting the student’s readiness for scholarly writing. Students would be accepted as direct entry for up to 2 years after they receive their master's degree in MBA/MHAL. The following are direct entry eligibility requirements:

• Cumulative MBA/MHAL degree GPA of 3.85 or higher.

• If any LEAD courses taken as electives during MBA/MHAL degree, at least a B- required or must retake the course during doctoral degree.

• Letter of recommendation from MBA/MHAL program. No other recommendations are required.

• Submit Graduate Application Essay.

• Submit Leadership Essay: in at least 400 words, discuss the following:

  a) your vision of organizational leadership and b) why anyone would want to be led by you.

• Submit Resume.

• Must attend collaborative interview with program faculty.

The Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership curriculum worksheet and full details about the curriculum are accessible on the Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership website.