Section
Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership

Mission and Goals

PhD Student

Mission

The mission of the Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership Program is to prepare leaders in business, educational and nonprofit sectors through interdisciplinary studies and original research to effectively engage in the transformation of their organizations, communities and society as practitioners and scholars. With this mission in mind, the Organizational Leadership program prepare its students to embrace the four different aspects of the transformational leader, including:

The Centered Leader—For the transformational leader, Christ is the center from which moral, ethical leadership stems. The transformational leader is characterized by depth and integrity, a strong sense of right and wrong, and a willingness to make decisions based on moral principles.

The Servant Leader—A transformational leader empowers others to use their gifts for the good of the team, organization, or department.

The Learning Leader—Assuming the posture of a learner to understand history and context, and recognizing the need for adaptive leadership, the transformational leader is comfortable navigating the ambiguities that are inherent in many leadership situations.

The Visionary Leader—A transformational leader creates a positive alternative vision of the future and brings creativity to the journey.

Goals

In support of its mission to produce transformational leaders, the Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership is constructed to achieve the following goals:

  • Equip students to perform effective organizational analysis and acquire a systemic understanding of the internal and external dynamics of their particular professional context.
  • Foster an increasingly mature commitment to an outward-looking vision of organizational, community and societal transformation through the integration of faith, reason, and justice.
  • Train students to synthesize organization and leadership theory with the professional knowledge and competencies required for leadership within a particular sector.
  • Enable students to contribute to their respective fields through the creation and execution of a significant research project resulting in a dissertation.
  • Encourage students to initiate, lead and evaluate a significant change process within the context of their professional disciplines.

The program supports Eastern University by building upon its mission of transformational education to include a student population that already occupies positions of influence in the organizations of our society. While Eastern will continue to teach and mold leaders for tomorrow and the mid-level leaders of today, the Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership has been created primarily for those who are already exercising significant leadership roles in educational institutions, nonprofit organizations, corporations, and public sector agencies.

Read more about the Program's Philosophy

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