In this research course, students are provided with core knowledge and skills for understanding, analyzing, and designing research at the graduate level. Students explore the philosophy of science, the role of theory, and research processes. Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods research designs and data collection methods are introduced. The alignment of research components is emphasized. Students also explore ethical and social change implications of designing and conducting research. Students demonstrate their knowledge and skills by developing an annotated bibliography.

In this course, students begin their journey to the domains of the scholar-practitioner as they examine what it means to earn a doctorate and become a Walden PhD. No organization can succeed without being led and managed, and students will graduate with a unique perspective on organizational success. This course prepares students for the journey that will take them from absorbing knowledge to becoming creators of knowledge. During this orientation course, students grapple with some of the biggest questions facing the management profession: How have the demands on management and leadership shifted with the digital age? What are the implications of a global, 24/7 world? How will the students, as scholar-practitioners, contribute to positive social change when they graduate? While engaging in these and other questions regarding the future of management, students are introduced to the full spectrum of Walden resources and are familiarized with academic support systems designed to foster their development as better critical thinkers and scholarly writers.

There are many ways of seeing an organization and one's place in it. The assumptions students make about people, purpose, and profit will influence the way they manage. It is important to develop the skill required to read various situations and to understand what is between the lines to act with insight. Developing and utilizing various divergent perspectives on organizational dynamics enables a manager to devise appropriate actions by critically thinking about the way things can be (based on the way things are). In this way, leaders free themselves from conventions and can consider the knowledge management strategies, structures, and policies to succeed. Students will explore several metaphors of organizations from mechanistic to organic to network, among others. The students will look at organizations through several all-encompassing frames to understand how a leader can leverage these new perspectives to better manage processes, the implications of social change, and innovative strategies. Students will also continue building the skills required to succeed in the program and leverage those skills as they begin working on their dissertation topics. Students are asked to reflect each week on their learnings and how those learnings are shaping their specialization perspective. Students will deepen their understanding of APA, scholarly writing, and the importance of integrity in writing; they will also hone their analysis and evaluation skills.

Organizations are increasingly a reflection of the confluence of dynamic influences and pressures to compete in an uncertain environment. Leaders need to stimulate creative and innovative approaches to products, services, and operations. Yet, organizations also need to have predictable control systems to enable the efficient utilization of resources. Students in this course cover some basic to intermediate concepts, models, and theories from general systems theory, systems thinking, network theory, complex adaptive systems theory, complexity leadership theory, and evolutionary systems theory with applications to social organizations. Students use a provided template to model, describe, and apply these concepts to an organization of their choice such as society-at-large or a subset of society; a community, city, county, state, or country; or a corporation, a nonprofit, government agency, an educational institution, or a military organization as this course starts from abstract systems and moves to concrete instances. Throughout this course, students will improve their understanding of systems, organizations, and leadership or management decision-making capabilities.

In today's highly complex organizations, rational and behavioral decision-making processes and models impact leadership, ethics, group dynamics, and risk assessment. Students will examine the ethical implications of organizational decisions based on the literature. Students will also explore, evaluate, and debate how judgments and decisions influence team dynamics and an organization's social responsibility decisions. Students will also develop a deeper appreciation for predictive and adaptive decision systems and the impact of artificial intelligence and autonomous systems on an organization's decision processes. Students will continue to develop their skills assessment plan and tie what they learn to their specialization and, ultimately, the dissertation process. Students will focus on developing their analysis capabilities of peer-reviewed literature related to their specialization, and decision making and judgment.