Micro-Credential for Postdocs

These MBA courses are designed by KGSB's worldclass faculty and are offered in the evenings and weekends to fit your busy schedule. The Leading People in Organizations professional credential is comprised of four, 1.5-credit courses drawn from the KGSB Master of Business Administration program (total of 6 graduate credits), and can be completed in as little as two semesters. Credits successfully completed can be later applied to a business certificate or degree program, pending application and acceptance to the KGSB. The transfer of credits to other schools or universities is subject to institutional policies.

This four-course program (6 credits) is comprised of:

• Two required courses (1.5 credit each, 3 credits total),
• Two elective courses (1.5 credit each, 3 credits total), selected from a menu depending upon one’s areas of interest

Sections of required and recommended courses will be dedicated primarily to postdocs. Other courses and sections can be selected from the KGSB general course schedule for MBA students.

Two Required Courses

BOAH 2409: Organizational Behavior

The effective management of people is a critical component of organizational competitiveness. This course addresses problems and issues concerning leadership, interpersonal effectiveness, and challenges for managers in the 21st century. The student is prepared to manage himself or herself and others in a rapidly-changing global environment. Topics covered include leadership, teamwork, power, politics, and influence.

BSPP 2409: Strategic Management

"Strategy" in the context of management, focuses on creating a harmonious relationship between separate units within an organization, and between a firm and its environment.  The core strategic management course explores this classic concept of strategy and how it can be adapted to today's changing and turbulent environments.  While the course adopts the perspective of a general manager (e.g. Head of a strategic business unit), it provides critical insight to functional managers who must align their departments' activities with the firm's overall objectives and approach to creating and capturing value (i.e. Its competitive strategy).The strategic management course employs a multi-method pedagogy.  Students learn a set of perspectives, conceptual frameworks, and tools - drawn from industrial organization economics and the behavioral sciences and sociology, with which to understand the opportunities and challenges involved in developing world-class capabilities for competing effectively in globally-linked economies.  Through case studies, we explore how a firm's competitive strategy shapes the way it engages customers, suppliers, competitors, and others comprising its value net.  Through project assignments, we investigate how competitive advantage can be quantified using publicly available data.  Together, the multiple modes of inquiry will provide insight into why competitive advantage is fundamental to a firm's long-term success; how the various activities in a firm's value chain can contribute to competitive advantage; and why, although industries support many competitive strategies, each firm tends to employ only one at a time.

Two Recommended Elective Courses

BOAH 2517: Interpersonal Skills for Managers

Explicit training in interpersonal skills; presenting oneself to others, effective verbal and nonverbal communication, persuasion, and the use of interpersonal resources to become an effective manager and leader.

BOAH 2528: Strategic Communication

Students will learn frameworks that enable them to communicate persuasively to influence key strategic stakeholders within and external to the organization. A variety of experiential elements will be incorporated such as presentations, projects, and guest speakers.

Additional Elective Courses Scheduled through MBA Program

BOAH 2421: Human Resources for Competitive Advantage

This course identifies the key role of human resources management in the organization's effort to create value and explores its link with competitive strategy.

BOAH 2532: Negotiations, Teamwork and Change

We negotiate daily in a variety of contexts: business, family, and social.  Negotiation serves several purposes: (1) establishing new or renewing old relationships; (2) changing behaviors and expectations; and (3) resolving disputes.  A key goal of this course is to learn the techniques of effective negotiating and collaborative problem solving.  Successful negotiations and teamwork reduce costs, improve outcomes, and build constructive relationships.  Negotiations are part of a broader set of exchanges that take place within and across organizational contexts.  This is the first half of a two-part course on negotiations, teamwork, and change.  This course will introduce you to effective techniques for negotiating and collaborative decision making in dyads, as well as in groups.  It will further cover the methods for negotiating, facilitating, and leading change in organizational contexts.  This is an experiential course and you will be involved directly in negotiating, leveraging team dynamics, and facilitating change in a range of contexts.  These experiences will involve a host of tangible and not-so-tangible outcomes, ranging from monetary terms and conditions to matters of goodwill, trust, and information-sharing.

BOAH 2537: Conflict Resolution in the Workplace

This course is designed to build on the skills you learned in the prerequisite negotiation course (BOAH 2532 Negotiations, Teamwork and Change) to improve your skills in analyzing and resolving disputes in a variety of settings. Most of the lessons and principles covered in the course are not necessarily specific or unique to business-related or managerial applications, even though that will be the focal setting of study.  A basic premise of the course is that while analytic skills are needed to discover optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of conflict management skills are often needed to get these solutions accepted and implemented. The course will allow participants the opportunity to develop these skills experientially, where considerable emphasis will be placed on learning from simulations and case analysis.

BSPP 2112: Leading Organizations to Innovate Smarter

This course addresses the critical role of a firm's top management in guiding a firm toward more positive innovation outcomes.  We specifically focus on the role of executive leadership in developing a firm's capability for breakthrough innovation ' a primary source of sustained competitive advantage and economic growth.  We distinguish between what leaders need to do during invention and innovation, and emphasize barriers that hinder established firms' capabilities to produce breakthrough innovations.  We examine how strategic leaders can augment a firm's ability to 'innovate smarter' by better utilizing the diversity of expertise that resides within the organization and within the firm's partnerships.  The concepts we'll discuss are grounded in decades of research on creativity and technological innovation, as well as strategic management, leadership, and teams.  We'll discuss how strategic leaders apply these concepts today.

BSEO 2538: Strategic Leadership

This course covers leadership theory, with a particular emphasis on executive leadership.  Course topics include the following:  leadership skills development, charismatic and transformational leadership, leadership of organizational change, strategic vision, and contingency theories of leadership.  The course involves a combination of theory, case studies, and guest lectures.

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SCHEDULE OF POSTDOC SECTIONS

Spring 2024 SCHEDULE
8-Week Postdoctoral Schedule: January 23 - March 14, 2024

BOAH 2517 Interpersonal Skills for Managers (Good)	Tuesdays 6-8 PM January 23 – March 12, 2024	Online
BSPP 2409 Strategic Management	Thursdays 6-8 PM January 25 – March 14, 2024	Online

Fall 2024 SCHEDULE
8-Week Postdoctoral Schedule: TBA

BOAH 2409 Organizational Behavior (Good)	TBA	Online
BOAH 2528 Strategic Communication (Kerr)	TBA	Online

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Schedule of Other Electives

In addition to the two dedicated postdocs sections offered each semester, postdoc micro-credential candidates may select from this additional list of MBA course sections that apply to the micro-credential.

Spring 2024 Schedule

BOAH 2409 Organizational Behavior (Nair) Required Course – Non-postdoc section	Thursdays. 6:20 - 9:20PM Janury 8 – March 1, 2024	Online
BOAH 2532 Negotiations, Teamwork and Change (TBA)	Friday 1-5PM Saturday - Sun. 9AM - 5PM January 26 - 28, 2024 (One Weekend)	Online
BSEO 2538 Strategic Leadership (Abel)	Thursdays 6:20-9:20PM March 4 - April 26, 2024	53 Alumni Hall

ELIGIBILITY

Postdoctoral associates, postdoctoral scholars, and research associates university-wide who earned their doctoral degrees at English-speaking institutions are eligible to apply for non-degree student admission.

Others must demonstrate: 

• Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL iBT) score of at least 100
• International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of at least Band 7
• Duolingo scores are higher than 120
• Completion of University of Pittsburgh English as a Second Language Courses

English language proficiency testing will be offered by the Linguistics department.

To register for the English Proficiency Test, send an email to pitttest@pitt.edu with the heading "English test," and include the following information: 1) your legal full name, 2) your PeopleSoft number, if unknown, please email oacdgradcourses@pitt.edu, 3) your date of birth, and 4) your University of Pittsburgh email address

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APPLICATION DEADLINE

The deadline to apply for the Spring 2024 semester is January 5, 2024.

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HOW TO APPLY

Postdoctoral trainees at the University of Pittsburgh do not have to submit transcripts (due to already possessing a doctoral degree). Additionally, the graduate application fee is waived for non-degree students.

All new applicants must complete the online application before registering for courses. Click here to access the application.

If you are an on-going student, you do not need to repeat the online application process. 

NOTE: Admission applications are being processed through a special arrangement with the School of Medicine under Plan Code GCD-ND (Graduate Career Development Non-Degree). Graduate credits earned at the University of Pittsburgh as a non-degree student may be later applied to a certificate or degree program; but, admission to the University of Pittsburgh under a non-degree status does not guarantee later matriculation to a certificate or degree program.
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REGISTRATION

Registration for postdocs in this program is by special permit only. New applicants will receive a link to register in a confirmation email upon acceptance of their application.

For returning students, complete the registration form here.

Financial responsibility is incurred upon registration.

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EDUCATION BENEFITS

Description of Postdoctoral Education Benefits: View Benefits

Based upon IRS tax code, graduate tuition benefits above $5250 in a calendar year are considered taxable income and these taxes are withheld from your educational benefits. To avoid federal income tax liability:

• PA Residents* should not enroll in more than 4.0 graduate credits per calendar year
  •  See Recommended Schedule for PA Residents 
• Out of state residents and foreign nationals should not enroll in more than 2.5 graduate credits per calendar year
  • See Recommended Schedule for Out-of-State Residents

* US citizens and permanent residents can be considered PA residents after residing in PA for twelve consecutive months.

Financial responsibility for a 1.5-credit graduate course after tuition benefits are applied: View PDF

Postdocs are encouraged to ask their faculty mentors to reimburse their out-of-pocket expenses for graduate credit courses.

Postdoc Tuition Payment Instructions for Administrators
 
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REQUEST TO CONSULT WITH AN ADVISOR

If you have any questions, email OACDGradCourses@pitt.edu or call (412) 648-8486 to speak with an advisor.

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