Organizational Design and Innovation

Students begin their journeys as scholar-practitioners in this doctoral management gateway course. Students will learn what it means to earn a doctorate and a Walden PhD degree. No organization can succeed without being led and managed. Students will graduate with a unique perspective on organizational success. They will develop a personal navigational tool, the skills development and an assessment plan (SDAP) to identify their goals, assess the skills they will need to develop, and begin to consider the importance of managing their time as they deepen their journey into the program. Through this course, students will then be prepared for the journey that will take them from absorbing knowledge to becoming creators of knowledge. During this orientation course, students will grapple with some of the biggest questions facing the management profession. While engaging in these and other questions regarding the future of management, students will be introduced to the full spectrum of Walden resources and become familiarized with Walden's academic support systems. Designed to make them better critical thinkers and scholarly writers, these resources include the Writing Center, the Walden Library, the Academic Skills Center, and the Center for Research Quality. Students also focus on beginning their development of critical reading, writing, and questioning, and reflective skills, all of which are needed to succeed as scholar-practitioners.

Agile and disruptive innovation is a reality for every business, and as such, managers must be prepared to incorporate innovation theories into practice. In this class students discuss the many aspects and theories of innovation management. Topics such as disruptive and open innovation, innovation strategies, product and service management through analytics, and agile innovation are discussed. These topics are covered in depth to better prepare students for the cutting-edge innovation fields.

Managing by design and management ambidexterity focus on the design and then the efficiency of an innovation. There is a need for design thinking for those undertaking innovation activities in products or organizationally. Design thinking focuses on human, environmental, and ethics-centric innovative considerations and intangible issues. Also identified are models and frameworks that support the development of innovative culture, including the voice of the customer in product and service requirements and the power of a customer-centric perspective, whether in an organizational innovation, product, or service.

Students discuss the ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI) based on the AI design standards that focus on ethically coordinated design criteria. Organizations and leaders who are considering any type of AI or autonomous system within the workplace or for customer applications should consider the ethical dilemma this new environment may cause.