Master of Science in Executive Leadership (MSEL)
Delivered through a partnership between The Ken Blanchard Companies and the School of Business Administration, the Master of Science in Executive Leadership (M.S.E.L.) is an innovative, value-based business leadership degree. M.S.E.L. is the only program available that integrates Ken Blanchard’s acclaimed and time-proven leadership philosophy with business leadership models that have transformed leaders and their organizations for over 20 years. The degree curriculum, 16-course program of study facilitates the mastery and execution of key leadership competencies. The program’s focus on real-world applications maximizes opportunities for both personal and organization formation.
M.S.E.L. cohort-based program provides both established and emerging organizational leaders with an unsurpassed business leadership development experience. Executive-level participants engage in an applied-learning curriculum co-facilitated by the expert authors, theorists, and business leaders drawn from both The Ken Blanchard Companies and the School of Business Administration.
The Master of Science in Executive Leadership
Successful organizations need ethical leaders to motivate stakeholders in pursuit of a common vision. Today’s most successful leaders realize that only with the help of all of their people can they create organizations that are customer-driven, cost effective, fast, flexible and continually improving. Leaders also know that only through increased operational efficiencies and better service can companies deliver the high-quality products and services that customers demand. A rich understanding of this leadership practice distinguishes the M.S.E.L. from the traditional business degree. Graduates of this program have developed the skills necessary to lead and sustain high performing organizations.
This program, designed around an Executive Education Learning Model, encourages executive participants to learn from one another by sharing diverse perspectives and problem solving strategies in an environment that fosters creativity and innovations. This cohort-based program requires all students to progress together through a series of 16 specified courses over a 22-month period.
On each step of this powerful journey, students are guided by pairs of recognized experts drawn from both The Ken Blanchard companies and the University of San Diego’s School of Business Administration. The program format is structured to accommodate the schedules of working executives. Classes meet one weekend a month for 20 months with two one-week intensive sessions at the beginning and middle of the curriculum. In this manner, M.S.E.L. delivers not only an AACSB accredited graduate business degree, but lifelong friendships and a valuable business network.
This competitive program is designed for the committed organizational member who will use his or her organization as a learning application laboratory. Students actively learn both business and leadership processes through intensive involvement in cohort groups, self and organizational analyses. In addition, distinguished guest lecturers, media presentations that extend the in-class seminars, distance learning between on-site course weekends, and facilitated analysis of the cohort group’s dynamics contribute to the learning process.
The M.S.E.L. program objectives are designed to:
- Promote demonstrable skills for effective, values-based leadership
- Develop a breadth of business functional skills
- Facilitate behavioral change in self and others through self-knowledge, cultural sensitivity, and team dynamics
- Foster critical thinking and analytical skills needed to effect self and organizational change
- Assure the highest quality of peer interaction and a robust learning community
A typical candidate for the M.S.E.L. program has on average fifteen years experience as a professional and is currently serving in a position of leadership. He or she wants to learn how to more systematically leverage the leadership experience into accelerated personal and organizational growth. Because the program presents classroom lessons that are to continue to work in leadership roles throughout the duration of the program.
Admission requirements
M.S.E.L. candidates have typically held positions of responsibility including chairman, CEO, president, vice president, director, and manager. Most are looking for opportunities to learn skills that will boost their careers and assist them in creating a more dynamic relationship with work. Accelerating personal growth is often a primary objective. As the first criteria for admission, candidates are expected to have a set of diversified leadership experiences.
- Five or more years in a professional capacity within an organization
- Currently serving in a leadership or management position
- Expects to continue to serve as a leader within an organization throughout the program
Additional screening is typical of that found for entry into most business graduate degree programs – the assessment of academic competence.
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university
- Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) or an equivalent Professional Work Product prepared by the candidate
- Letters of recommendation from the applicant’s supervisor, a colleague and a direct report
- Essay explaining why the applicant is interested in the M.S.E.L. program and how the degree program will further the applicant’s personal and professional goals.
Leaders and managers who are interested in this program should request a copy of the application from the M.S.E.L. Program Office at (619) 260-4828 or download the application at www.business.sandiego.edu/M.S.E.L.
Curriculum Overview
M.S.E.L. emphasizes understanding and developing the leadership skills necessary for success in a variety of organizational contexts. This carefully coordinated and highly integrated series of 16 courses provides participants with a specialized master’s degree that has both similarities and differences with the traditional M.B.A.. Both build on an interdisciplinary core of information analysis, customers and markets, financial management, financial controls, and business strategy. M.S.E.L. alone provides a consistent focus on leadership theory and practice, ranging from self-leadership to leadership that transforms organizations.
The 16-course sequence consists of eight 3-unit courses and eight 1.5 –unit courses, totaling 36 units. All courses are required, are team taught, and will be taken in the following order:
MSEL 501 – Preparing for Leadership: Self-Appraisal and Analysis (3)
MSEL 502 – Optimizing Individual Learning (1.5)
MSEL 503 – Organizational Ethics I (1.5)
MSEL 504 – Data Analysis and Decision-Making (3)
MSEL 505 – Communicating your Leadership Point of View (1.5)
MSEL 506 – Understanding Customers and Markets (3)
MSEL 507 – Partnering for Performance Using Situational Leadership II® (1.4)
MSEL 508 – Accounting: Reporting and Decision-Making (3)
MSEL 509 – Leading High-Performing Teams (3)
MSEL 510 – Financial Management and Investments (3)
MSEL 511 – Leadership in a Global Context (1.5)
MSEL 512 – Organizational Ethics II (1.5)
MSEL 513 – Sustaining Competitive Advantage: The Learning Organization (1.5)
MSEL 514 – Leading Change (3)
MSEL 515 – Planning and Implementing Organizational Strategies (3)
MSEL 516 – Leading High-Performing Organizations (1.5)
Course Descriptions
Please Note: Course descriptions list the course number, the course title and the number of semester-units in parentheses.
MSEL 501 Preparing for Leadership: Self-Appraisal and Analysis (3)
The first one-week track serves as an orientation to the master’s program. Students explore the relationship between personality and behaviors and the socially responsible leader. Topics include personality theory, disposition beliefs, values, and presentation of self in the workplace. Students learn what values and presentation of self in the workplace. Students learn what values and character they bring to their management roles, as well as how to diagnose the disposition and value framework others bring to the work-place. Approaches include diagnostic instruments for self and others, role-plays, case studies, a writing project to establish a personal mission statement, and formulating strategies for balancing work and personal lives.
MSEL 502 Optimizing Individual Learning (1.5)
Primary focus is given to the only sustainable competitive advantage in business today – learning. The “Leader as Learners” is the main theme of this course. Optimizing Individual Learning will focus on individual learning as applied in an organizational setting. Common business processes and skills practiced will assist in defining, understanding, and developing a learning organization, and optimizing leadership so individuals in organization can out-learn, out-think, and out-create competitors while maximizing individual and organizational performance. Topics include the perceptive, psychological, environmental, physiological, emotional, and sociological preferences that influence learning, concentration, and understanding; the brain, cognitive science, speed-reading and attention or memory strategies. Teaching methods include assessment tools, role-plays, lecture and participant presentations.
MSEL 503 Organizational Ethics I (1.5)
Effective leadership requires an understanding of the differing values positions that exist in a variety of contexts. In particular, students must examine the moral features of activities and decision-making within and among organizations. Beginning with the assumption that most people want to act ethically most of the time, individuals must also recognize that people and relationships are complex. Determining the proper course of action is at least as difficult as taking that action within an elaborate network of stakeholder relationships. Toward improving moral analysis in organizations, this course will cover topics including the effects of time pressure, division of loyalties, conflicts of obligations, effects of bureaucracy, nature of authority, cultural relativism, and international ethical differences.
MSEL 504 Data Analysis and Decision-Making (3)
In a rapidly changing business environment, accessing and interpreting data for effective decision-making is critical. M.S.E.L. students will explore systematic processes for business problem solving. Students will obtain and process information, and develop skills in probability and statistics and risk analysis and measurement. Topics to be covered include collecting and processing information, statistical inference, regression analysis, risk analysis, and information technology. Common business processes and business skills practiced are gathering and organizing data, quantitative data analysis, forecasting, decision-making under uncertainty, and communicating or presenting results. Special emphasis will be given to computer techniques, especially using Microsoft Excel, for statistical analysis and problem-solving.
MSEL 505 Communicating your Leadership Point of View (1.5)
Research demonstrates the importance of developing a clear leadership point of view. Through introspection and analysis, students will explore the relevance and applicability of a servant leadership model in both personal and professional contexts. Developing an actionable leadership point of view, presented in both oral and written formats, forms the core of this course. Faculty and peer feedback will play a major role in the development of an articulate, teachable leadership point of view that has relevance across personal and professional contexts. Teaching methods include self-diagnosis, role-plays, case studies and presentations by both faculty and students.
MSEL 506 Understanding Customers and Markets (3)
Achieving organizational success requires a fundamental understanding of the marketing process in both the firm and in society through analysis of the environments that affect marketing. With a focus on internal and external customers, the course examines contemporary issues that affect the efficient and effective operation of both the micro and macro marketing systems. It provides an opportunity to put into action the principles and lessons learned. The most important objective is for each participant to develop an understanding of the field of marketing, including its scope, theoretical foundations, challenges, opportunities, and limitations. Topics include product differentiation, branding, pricing, promotion, demand analysis and estimation, and distribution. Teaching methods include lecture, case studies and simulations.
MSEL 507 Partnering for Performance Using Situational Leadership II®(1.5)
Managing human behavior in organizations is essential to efficient operations. Exploring the problems, possibilities, and prescriptions of ethically leading in a one-on-one context forms the foundation of this course. Students build skills that enable them to find out what their employees need to accomplish their personal and organizational goals, use a variety of leadership styles and to meet those needs, and set up a communication process for reaching agreements on what the manager and the employee can expect from each other as they work together. Topics include leadership style, employee competence and commitment, diagnosis, style flexibility, goal setting, feedback, problem-solving and consequence management as processes in developing people. Teaching methods include diagnostic instruments for others and self, role-plays, case studies and a project that applies to the student’s workplace.
MSEL 508 Accounting: Reporting and Decision Making (3)
Business leadership requires an understanding of specialized skills and tools used in financial and managerial accounting. The objective is to prepare leaders to effectively use available financial information when making decisions and to critically evaluate the financial information presented by others. Accounting is presented as the principal planning and control tool of business. Topics include financial reporting, costing methods, and performance assessment. Common business processes and skills practiced are financial statement analysis, segment analysis, allocation and activity-based costing, transfer pricing, budgeting and cost, volume or profit analysis. Special attention is given to concepts in open book management and enterprise resource planning.
MSEL 509 [507] Leading High-Performing Teams (3)
Exploring the challenges and possibilities of creating and leading in a team-based, socially responsible organizational culture forms the basis of this one-week session. Students examine the theories and practices necessary to be an effective leader or member of a high-performing team. Development of self-knowledge and skills for diagnosing stages of team development, observing and interpreting team dynamics enhance a leader’s ability to effectively organize and manage teams. Stress will be placed on leadership skills that improve interpersonal and facilitation skills. Application of knowledge and skills developed is required in real team situations within the student’s organization. Topics include stages of team development, leadership style, team chartering, conflict management, decision-making, interventions and group process skills.
MSEL 510 Financial Management and Investments (3)
An understanding of the responsibilities, analytical approaches and strategy implications from the perspective of the financial officer of a company are central to the leadership function. An integral approach to both the external (investor) and the internal (financial leadership) perspectives will be examined. Students analyze the tools required to manage the financial function within a mature corporation as well as the financial implications of a start-up company. In contrast, the external perspective explored will cover how the financial communities of investors view the corporation as an investment, and the responsibilities of the financial manager in maximizing the company’s shareholders’ wealth. Teaching methods include lecture, practice sets, case studies and a research project demonstrating the use of technology.
MSEL 511 Leadership in a Global Context (1.5)
Conceptually, this course extends leadership to a global perspective involving cross-cultural, geopolitical, and economic considerations and responses. Focus is on the challenges leaders face in a business world that has become global in opportunity, in dynamics of business, and in threats to business success. Topics include forces pushing companies to be global, dealing with conflicting domestic and global issues, succeeding in multiple cultures, understanding how transnational firms operate, and learning how to analyze global potential for a business, industry, or region.
MSEL 512 Organizational Ethics II (1.5)
As a follow up to Organizational Ethics I, this course extends and builds on the decision making framework established previously. Students are asked to write and analyze case studies based on ethical dilemmas they face within their own organizational contexts. Focus will be on the key factors that allow seemingly successful leaders to engage in unethical practices. Topics include the “Light of Day” test, possessing a sense of entitlement, failing to understand the distinction between rationalization and justification, engaging in super-optimism, confusing ethical tolerance with ethical relativism and the art of self-deception.
MSEL 513 Sustaining Competitive Advantage: The Learning Organization (1.5)
Building on the concepts developed in M.S.E.L. 502, this course focuses again on learning. Common business processes and skills practiced will assist in defining, understanding, and developing a learning organization, and optimizing leadership so individuals in organizations can out-learn, out-think, and out-create competitors while maximizing individual and organizational performance. Teaching methods include assessment tools, role-plays, lecture, participant presentations and an action learning project.
MSEL 514 Leading Change (3)
The problems and possibilities encountered when leading an organizational change effort form the basis of this course. Students examine the critical role of change agents through a variety of change initiatives. Competing theories of change are explored. Students develop an understanding of the stages of concern that individuals experience when dealing with change and why they resist it. In addition, students analyze past change efforts and develop a change initiative within their own organizations. Topics include organizational vision, focusing behaviors, inspiring behaviors and levels of concern when making organizational change. Teaching methods include diagnostic schemes, role-plays, case studies and a writing project documenting an organizational change effort.
MSEL 515 Planning and Implementing Organizational Strategies (3)
Formulating organizational strategy requires the integration of a wide variety of knowledge and skills across multiple business functions. Through simulation and applied business processes, students develop strategies that integrate the learning from all of their previous courses. The course relates both effectiveness and efficiency in complex organizations and offers a prescriptive model to apply based on performance diagnosis. Topics include competitive analysis, capital investment decisions, market planning, and social responsibility. Leadership and management skills practiced include strategic mission and vision creation, strategic planning, financial forecasting, market planning, investor relations, and written and oral presentations. Teaching methods include guided group discussions, student presentations, guest speakers, readings, cases, simulation and exercises.
MSEL 516 Leadership for High Performing Organizations: Crafting the Future (1.5)
As the final course in the program, this module provides the opportunity for the student to synthesize and bring closure to this formal stage of their learning. Students present a culminating portfolio and assess the extend to which they have developed the necessary competencies to perform as high potential executive leaders who impact high performing organizations.
