Key takeaways
- Organizational leadership focuses on managing, leading, and inspiring people to achieve efficiency and effectiveness.
- This field of work requires an understanding of multiple disciplines, including HRM and behavioral sciences.
- The leadership degree equips students with skills in team building, communication, and conflict resolution.
- Some common specializations within the organizational leadership degree are HRM, change management, global leadership, and entrepreneurship.
- Careers with organizational leadership are diverse, allowing professionals to find work in numerous industries, including nonprofit and government agencies.
- Leadership degrees emphasize transferable skills applicable to various industries, along with core skills relevant to present and future business landscape.
- Some of the best colleges for a degree in organizational leadership are the University of Minnesota, the University of Arizona, and Michigan State University.
Organizations are built to achieve certain goals and missions by employing and managing people in a deliberate structure. At the core of every organization lies management – thoroughly focused on directing and guiding the people of the organization toward efficiency and effectiveness. This process of human management, leadership, and strategic approach is called organizational leadership.
As a professional, you will face numerous situations where strategic decisions and plans will be required. Therefore, having the capacity to predict, manage, and navigate such challenges is an indispensable skill. Today’s highly competitive and dynamic business landscape is in dire need of strategic leaders and managers who can drive an organization and its people to the ultimate goals.
So, as a young mind, with fresh ideas and perspectives, you might wish to pursue a degree that enables you to pursue a career that is focused on leading people. If you feel like you can be great at handling an organization’s workforce in such a way that it creates lasting impacts and profits, you should definitely look deeper into the offerings of organizational leadership degrees.
In this guide, we explain to you the various features of an organizational leadership degree, what it offers, and requires, what colleges you can go to, and possible careers with organizational leadership degrees. Let’s dig in!
What is an organizational leadership degree?
According to Southern New Hampshire University, the ideal definition of an organizational leadership degree is that it teaches the leaders of tomorrow how to keep individuals within an organization motivated to achieve the organization’s shared goals. According to this definition and what we know about organizational leadership, this discipline is all about an organization, what it needs, and how it should be led.
Firstly, a huge part of organizational leadership is goal setting. This degree focuses on preparing the leaders of tomorrow with the necessary skills required to understand the organization’s needs, strengths, and weaknesses, and align them with strategic goals. Next, the leaders must be well-equipped to not only guide and direct individuals and teams within the organization, but also keep them motivated enough to achieve the set goals.
Furthermore, the degree focuses on developing a knowledge base that allows the graduates to understand individual needs as well as a group or team. Moreover, some of the most common transferable skills that this degree can build may include:
- Team building
- Ice breaking
- Communication
- Presentation
- Global perspective
- Diversity and inclusion
- Management ethics
- Conflict resolution
Additionally, the technical skills you may develop with this degree can include:
- Data analysis
- Performance management
- Various leadership approaches
- Compliance
- Human resource management
- Analytical tools and methods
- Financial management
- Proficiency with data and project management tools like Agile
Now, let’s look at the other various details of an organizational leadership degree!
Coursework
Firstly, the coursework of organizational leadership degrees varies from one college to another. Therefore, it is vital that you explore the program details and coursework before enrolling one.
Furthermore, you will find a good blend of various disciplines and academic aspects within an organizational leadership degree. For example, a typical organizational leadership degree includes courses related to PR, communication, business, psychology, and behavioral sciences.
This mix of courses allows students in the leadership degree to prepare for real-world applications of their learnings. So, here is a list of typically found courses in a leadership degree:
|
|
Admission requirements
To get into a degree in organizational leadership college, you must fulfill certain requirements and criteria. To help you prepare during your college planning journey, here is a quick list of admission requirements that are typically found in such programs:
- Completion of high school or a recognized equivalent
- Minimum highschool GPA
- Some institutions may require SAT or ACT scores
- Usually 1–3 letters of recommendation
- An essay outlining academic goals, career aspirations, or reasons for pursuing the degree.
- A non-refundable fee for processing the application
What are the specializations within an organizational leadership degree?
You will find various college degrees offering areas of specialization or concentration areas. These are particular areas of focus that narrow down your focus on a specialized field allowing you to set the direction of your career. Moreover, choosing and completing a specialization within the degree is part of the coursework and graduation requirements.
Therefore, when you are planning to enroll in a leadership degree and are about to be benign, it’s important that you have done your research. Understanding what specialization you need to achieve your career goals is very important. So, here is a list of some commonly offered specialization areas offered by most leadership programs:
Human resource management
Human resource management is an extremely specialized discipline that focuses primarily on managing and leading an organization’s human capital. This specialization includes employee recruitment, onboarding, training, and performance management.
In addition to this, you can learn more about specializing in HRM by going through this complete guide about human resource management bachelor’s degree.
Strategic planning and leadership
An integral part of organizational leadership is planning and strategy. Therefore, specializing in this particular aspect will help you build skills such as long-term planning, decision-making, and guiding organizations toward achieving their goals.
Moreover, this degree is all about strategically planning and mapping out the long-term functionality of an organization. Briefly, this specialization may be good for not only finding reputable organizational leadership degree jobs as well as starting your own venture.
Change management
Considering today’s technological advancements and the highly volatile and dynamic business landscape, it is crucial for organizations to be responsive to change. Here, leaders play an important role, in leading change and ensuring the organization is on the right track to adapt to the changes. Therefore, in today’s era, this is an indispensable skill set that you might benefit from in the longer run.
Project management
Project management has been a rage recently. This particular field focuses on planning, executing, and overseeing projects to achieve specific goals within time and budget constraints. Therefore it can help you land contractual jobs, projects, and even freelance work. Essentially, project management jobs are typically mid to senior level even for those with bachelor degrees.
Entrepreneurship
Many young and fresh minds are now increasingly leaning towards starting new ventures and becoming a boss of their own. Therefore, developing entrepreneurship skills and capabilities is very beneficial for young and adult students. Luckily, many organizational degrees offer an entrepreneurship degree that allows you to develop leadership skills for working in another organization or your own.
You can also explore bachelor’s degrees in entrepreneurship for a more in-depth learning outcome.
Is organizational leadership a good degree?
To become a forward-thinking leader, manager, and a people person, you must be equipped with certain skills and knowledge. So, an organizational leadership degree precisely prepares students with the skills needed to bring a human element in an organization. More importantly, it is not a business degree, but closely focuses on one most important part of business and organizations – management.
Furthermore, this degree typically makes the students eligible for a variety of jobs and industries. Someone with an organizational degree can work in pharma, tech industry, or the fashion industry. This is because the degree focuses mostly on “transferable” skills that allow you to adjust to various types of organizations.
Therefore, an organizational leadership degree is a good choice for many reasons. This degree is particularly valuable for individuals aspiring to leadership positions or aiming to improve organizational effectiveness. Its flexibility, both in learning formats and career opportunities, makes it a strong option for many professionals.
Explore colleges that offer an organizational degree
One of the most important degree advice we can provide to you is this; choose your college carefully. Enrolling in a college is a 4-year long commitment that you must fulfill with financial as well as intellectual responsibilities. Therefore, the right choice will impact not only your college life but also your career prospects after graduating.
So, to help you get started, we have curated a quick list of factors you must check or consider when selecting the ideal college for an organizational degree. Let’s take a look at it before we explore the best colleges for organizational leadership degrees:
- College and program accreditations
- Campus location and housing options
- Campus life and facilities
- Faculty expertise and reputation
- Alumni career paths
- Program coursework and outline
- Cost of attendance and financial aid options
University of Arizona
You can learn to manage, motivate, and inspire employees of any organization with an organizational leadership degree from the University of Arizona. Most importantly, this program is available for on-campus and online modes of delivery, so you can choose as per your convenience. Furthermore, this degree’s alumni have been able to find jobs in fields such as human resources, supply chain, and even logistics management.
University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
You can look into the leadership degree offered by the University of Minnesota — a BS degree in organizational leadership. Firstly, this program is offered through the College of Education and Human Development, which houses over 45 highly qualified faculty members. Moreover, the degree is backed by research and uses data-driven teaching material and methodologies to prepare students for real-world applications.
Michigan State University
Getting a combination of numerous degrees and disciplines allows you to excel even more in your career. Therefore, if you can’t find a standalone organizational leadership degree, you might want to opt for the Communication leadership and strategy program at Michigan State University. This program particularly covers topics and courses similar to those in a leadership degree. Moreover, it is an ideal program for forward-thinking individuals. Lastly, the alumni of this program have found work in organizations like media houses, news agencies, government organizations, and PR agencies.
University of North Texas
If you are particularly interested in non-profit leadership, then you don’t want to miss out on the offerings of the University of North Texas. Its nonprofit leadership BA degree is ideal for purpose-driven young and adult students. This degree prepares you for careers in the nonprofit industry, allowing you to develop core skills needed, such as protection from abuse, right activists, disaster management, conflict resolution, and so on. Moreover, it is a full-time 4-year program that requires the completion of 120 credit hours.
National University
The BS in organizational leadership program at the National University is one of the most comprehensive and rewarding programs. Firstly, it allows you to choose between online or on-campus mode. Secondly, the degree’s learning outcomes are focused on creating skills such as analytical capabilities, critical thinking, and decision-making. Lastly, the program aligns with the future of leadership and therefore employs advanced teaching methods.
Get an organizational leadership degree online
According to a report by Statista, online education users are projected to significantly grow over the coming years. This shows a positive and upward trend in the popularity and success of online education, owing to the convenience it offers.
Firstly, online degrees in leadership and related fields can be self-paced, allowing students to learn and absorb concepts catered to their needs. Secondly, due to little to no commute and housing expenses, online degrees tend to be cheaper. In addition to this, accredited colleges offering online programs are also eligible for numerous types of financial aid and scholarships. As a result, students get the same degree and learning experience but at cheaper rates.
Furthermore, if you are currently employed at a full-time job and want to balance work with studies, online degrees are the best options. So, do not hesitate from exploring online organizational leadership degrees offered by several colleges.
Schools like University of Arizona Online, Purdue University Global, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), and Arizona State University (ASU Online) are excellent options. These programs cover leadership, team management, and organizational dynamics, and they are tailored to prepare you for leadership roles across industries.
Here is a quick list of such institutes:
- University of Arizona Online
- Purdue University Global
- Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU)
- Arizona State University (ASU Online)
- Columbia Southern University
- Florida International University (FIU Online)
- Liberty University Online
What can you do with an organizational leadership degree?
A competent management is essential for the survival and success of any organization or company. Particularly, today’s new and established businesses are realizing the importance of having inspiring and motivating managers on the team. Therefore, there is an increasing focus on employing the right leaders for the right people.
Additionally, a leadership degree teaches many core skills in the context of numerous types of organizations. Ideally, you will learn about HRM, supply chain, corporate training, and even get exposure to some behavioral sciences aspects. As a result, your skill set will be beneficial to an organization and its employees.
Due to its interdisciplinary nature, an organizational leadership degree ensures that you don’t run out of career options. Moreover, when you are trying to select the right college major, make sure you consider the possible career outlooks and prospects of the degree.
So, here is a list of commonly found jobs for organizational leadership degree holders:
|
|
How much can you make with an organizational leadership degree?
Ideally, the pay scale for any job depends on the following factors:
- Employer type and size
- College name and reputation from where you got your degree
- Experience level
- State or city you are in
- Additional qualifications like certifications
However, there are reports by BLS and other sources that give us a fair image of what the job market is offering to people with organizational leadership degrees. These are the following:
- According to BLS, the highest paying job for leadership degree holders is Computer and Information Systems Managers
- A bachelor’s degree in this field is enough for finding entry and mid-level jobs as human resource managers, marketing managers, and training and development managers
- According to Zip Recruiter, the annual average pay for organizational leadership professionals is $112,050 a year
Is a degree in organizational leadership worth it?
To fully understand whether a degree is worth it for you, make sure that you understand its core functions, purposes, and applications. If the career path and types of work it has to offer aligns with your interests, then you must not hesitate in pursuing this degree.
So, to help you out, here is a small list of functions that you can or must play in an organization after getting an organizational leadership degree:
|
Essentially, an organizational leadership degree is a modern-day take on how organizations must be run for long-lasting impact and success. Therefore, it is a future-proof degree that prepares you for the present and upcoming trends in the job market. However, this degree must be pursued only by those students who have a keen interest in human behaviors, people management, and already have a knack for being people’s person.
Furthermore, it is the ideal degree for self-driven and self-motivated people. In case you are looking for a degree that can help you build and run your own business or organization, then this would be the perfect choice as well. Additionally, people interested in nonprofit, social activism, and social change organizations can also benefit from this degree.
Overall, whether or not a leadership degree is worthy of your time, money, and energy ultimately depends on your career goals and personal preferences. Therefore, take your time in making this decision and don’t forget to consult with an expert for reliable advice and guidance.
Enroll in a college today
In conclusion, getting an organizational leadership degree is going to be truly rewarding. Considering the various careers with organizational leadership degrees and the variety of skills and competencies you can accomplish, it seems like a good choice for many. A bachelors in organizational leadership is the perfect gateway to building careers in change-making jobs and positions. It is also ideal for self-starters. Furthermore, the option to pursue an organizational leadership degree online makes it an even more promising choice.