Benerd graduate students work together in the classroom

Organizational Innovation & Change - Master's in Leadership

Become an Inspiring Agent of Change Through Organizational Innovation & Change

Do you want to advance as a leader who can achieve positive results through inspiring others? Maybe you want to support organizational change as a consultant in an organization or working with multiple organizations. Whatever your leadership goals are, earning a master’s in leadership in organizational innovation and change from University of the Pacific will prepare you to help businesses and organizations adopt innovative strategies to support people and bring about positive impacts on communities and the world.

When you study organizational change and innovation at Pacific, you’ll immerse yourself in a rigorous, hands-on learning environment. You’ll be supported by an active community of caring faculty, passionate peers and knowledgeable alumni. Most of all, your master’s in leadership from Pacific will help you build and strengthen your own leadership skills as you master innovative techniques to support organization-wide change.

Embody innovation, growth and organizational change

We believe that change begins with people. That’s why we support your growth as a coach and consultant who can teach others how to become great leaders and team members. Make positive changes in the world around you with our affordable and accessible master’s in leadership in organizational innovation and change.

Please note: This program format cannot support an I-20 for international student visas.

For Benerd Degree Completion students, take LEAD 200 Exercising Leadership and LEAD 210* through Benerd College and directly transfer those units to one of our MA programs (*pending catalog approval in fall 2024)
For all other undergraduate students, take LEAD 200 and another course pre-approved for transfer by undergraduate advisor and Benerd MA Program Lead.

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Small Class Sizes

Low-Residency Online Format

Student-Centered

Why Study Organizational Innovation and Change?

Earning a graduate degree in organizational innovation and change from Pacific is one of the fastest and most accessible ways to become a stronger leader and more creative problem-solver.

Thanks to our focus on experiential learning, you’ll connect the lessons you learn in class to real organizations. You’ll also benefit from working with highly experienced faculty who prioritize your academic and professional success.

A Master's in Leadership Designed for Professionals

Whether you’re a working professional or a recent graduate looking to start a new career path, your personal and professional time is valuable. That’s why we created a low-residency organizational innovation and change program that lets students like you earn your degree while living anywhere and working full-time

Learn From Award-Winning Leaders

As you dive into organizational innovation at Pacific, you’ll work closely alongside esteemed faculty mentors who bring decades of experience as consultants, trainers and directors of innovation into their classrooms. Collaborate with leading experts in organizational innovation as you master the latest leadership methods and skill sets.

Meet Our Organizational Innovation & Change Faculty

Earn Certificates While You Study Organizational Innovation

We embed certificates into our program to make you a more competitive applicant for jobs. After Spring in year 1, you’ll receive the Leading and Facilitating Innovation certificate. After year 2, you’ll earn the Strategic Consulting certificate. These certificates will demonstrate your competence in leadership and working with clients to foster change.

Master's in Leadership in Organizational Innovation & Change

Michael Lane

Michael considered dozens of Organizational Change programs. He chose Organizational Innovation and Change at Pacific because of its real-world organizational innovation focus and engaging learning environment.

What Can You Do With Your Master's In Leadership in Organizational Innovation and Change?

As technologies continue to grow more complex and employees adapt to shifting trends in workplace norms, organizations must always change and evolve to keep people at the center. At Pacific, you’ll learn proven methods for facilitating organizational change in a broad variety of situations — always with a focus on human-centered approaches to consulting and coaching.

Your graduate degree in Organizational Innovation and Change from Pacific can prepare you for a job as one of the following:

Consultant
Leadership and change coach
Trainer
Diversity-equity-inclusion specialist
Human resources director
Facilitator

Career Outlook for master's in Leadership in Organizational Innovation & Change

Employment of organizational innovation specialists such as consultants and management analysts is projected to grow 11 percent by 2031, much faster than the average for all occupations, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

As organizations look for ways to improve efficiency and employee relations while controlling costs, consultants and organizational innovation specialists will be in higher demand throughout the world.

Admission Requirements

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Tuition and Fees

Graduate Events

Explore Courses for Organizational Innovation and Change

Our two-year, 32-credit curriculum will cover foundational and advanced topics such as design thinking, coaching, evaluating organizational effectiveness and much more. Each faculty mentor designs their courses to help you continue building sophisticated techniques to bring change and organizational innovation to companies and businesses of every size and type.

As you earn your master’s in Leadership in Organizational Innovation and Change, you’ll take two courses each semester (including summer), with the exception of your last semester, which will involve a capstone course to integrate all that you’ve learned in organizational innovation. Every course includes client-based projects — meaning that you will work with organizations on projects that will have a real-world impact.

Some of the courses in our Organizational Change program you may take include:

Organizational Learning
Facilitation of Projects and Initiatives
Leadership and Inquiry
Exercising Leadership

Fall	LEAD 200. Exercising Leadership. 3 units. Provides knowledge and skills to lead, motivate, and coordinate diverse individuals toward attaining shared goals. Includes study of leadership in organizational and community-based contexts, with an emphasis on development of personal leadership competencies. LEAD 255. Design Thinking. 3 units. Provides knowledge, skills, and application to facilitate human-centered inquiry and design processes for organizational problem solving.
Spring	LEAD 210. Leadership and Inquiry. 3 units. Engages students in cycles of inquiry to gain deeper understanding of the issues that impact their organization and how that informs their leadership identity. Through these inquiry cycles, students reflect on how actions and decisions influence an organization and its people. Students use these reflective practices to build self-awareness about their on-going leadership growth and development. LEAD 256. Change in Complex Systems. 3 units. Immerses students in innovation and change methodologies while working with clients in transforming teams, groups, and organizations.
Summer	LEAD 251. Learning Design. 3 units. This course provides understanding and application in the design, development, and evaluation of learning experiences in various sectors, with a particular emphasis on creating innovative and immersive learning experiences.
Fall	LEAD 221. Facilitation of Projects and Initiatives. 3 units. Provides knowledge and skills related to group facilitation with focus on facilitating projects and initiatives of all types. Emphasis will be on facilitative leadership, tools, techniques, processes, and knowledge for helping teams succeed. LEAD 258. Organizational Consulting. 3 units. Provides knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate and support the implementation of change in teams, groups, and organizations. Emphasis on both theoretical and practical aspects of consulting skills, particularly the consultant-client helping relationship.
Spring	LEAD 215. Evaluation for Organizational Effectiveness. 3 units. Provides knowledge, skills, and experience to facilitate collaborative, data-informed evaluation. Focused on increasing the effectiveness of programs, groups, and organizations. LEAD 259. Organizational Learning. 3 units. Utilization of principles and theory to understand how organizations learn, how they change their levels of organizational knowledge, and how they foster cultures of growth and renewal. Focus on theory and practice-based processes for creating, retaining, and transferring knowledge within an organization, as well understanding organizations within a systems context.
Summer	LEAD 296L. Integrative Capstone in Innovative Leadership. 3 units. Provides the culminating experience of the program, including leadership-related fieldwork project to apply innovation skills through integration of research, theory, and practice.

Take the Next Step Toward Your Master's in Leadership in Organizational Innovation and Change

We take a hands-on approach with our students. This means we want to get to know you throughout your discovery and application process. Help us connect with you by taking the next step toward earning your master’s in Leadership in Organizational Innovation and Change.

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