hero image

Master of Public Administration (MPA)

Menu Display

Ethical Leadership Concentration

100% Online NASPAA-Accredited MPA Program

Over the last few decades, ethical leadership in organizations has taken on increasing importance. The world's economy has been shaken by the outcomes of organizations led by unethical people. To address these critical issues in the non-profit, government and public sectors we at Marist College have developed the Ethical Leadership concentration through the Master's in Public Administration graduate degree program.

The goal of the MPA in Ethical Leadership is to provide students with the ability to apply ethical leadership competencies within highly diverse organizational contexts and structures. The Ethical Leadership MPA graduate degree program at Marist works with professionals across various non-profit and public sectors that can provide invaluable insights into how leadership works across society. These crucial insights will integrate personal awareness and professional proficiencies enabling students to become more effective, ethical leaders in organizations. The program works with professionals transforming them into more ethical leaders in a diverse globalized world.

The goal of the Ethical Leadership concentration is for students to gain an understanding of how organizations work, how to provide leadership to an organization and how to implement ethical business practices. A successful Ethical Leadership student will graduate with the ability to rethink leadership and management in a new way, based on humanities driven approaches as well as achieve business goals while sustaining leadership integrity.

What To Expect From the Ethical Leadership Graduate Degree Concentration

Ethical Leadership students will be required to take a series of four online courses that will delve into the most important areas of developing an effective, ethical leader. Through the sequence of required Ethical Leadership online courses, MPA graduate students will learn the basic models of leadership and ethical decision-making, which are the foundation of ethical leadership and how to apply these concepts throughout the online curriculum, their career and lives.

The Ethical Leadership curriculum is designed to give graduate students a look at major perspectives on managing conflict in diverse workforces. Students will gain the confidence to provide analysis of conflict and make recommendations toward strong change in the public sector.

Courses in the ethical leadership concentration take a deeper look at changes in organizations, the power and influence of leaders, managing conflict and negotiation, and organizations in an ethical manner. Each uses a unique perspective in teaching students about creating a responsible vision for their professional career upon graduation.

Ethical Leadership Master's Degree Concentration Goals

  • Cultivate awareness
  • Conduct ethical analysis
  • Recommend ethical action
  • Manage conflict in diverse environments
  • Affect organizational change

The goal is to prepare graduate students to be effective leaders that can successfully face the ethical dilemmas that will occur in their careers while providing an in-depth understanding of the theory of leadership ethics and the ethical challenges of leadership practice. Ethical Leadership students will learn what sets them apart as leaders with integrity, character, trustworthiness, and excellence in professional training.

Loading contact form...

MPA Ethical Leadership Concentration Online Courses

The Leadership, Power, and Influence course examines the theory and practice of leadership in organizations. The course will provide students with the cognitive skills need to understand power and influence dynamics as well as how to learn to use them as effective tools to analyzing surroundings and achieve goals.

Traditional and modern theories of leadership will be explored, as well as the practical application of these theories in the work place. In addition to covering the traditional concepts of leadership in organizations, this MPA course will take an in-depth look at the power and influence a leader has over the organization and its members.

Students will explore how leaders effectively use power and influence to achieve organizational commitment and goals. The course provides students with the opportunity to observe effective and ineffective uses of power in different organizational contexts and career stages. It will also introduce difficult ethical questions associated with the use of power and influence.

The Negotiations and Conflict Management course is an introduction to the theory and practice of interpersonal bargaining. Conflict management and negotiation solutions are not confined to just the professional world, students will be able to apply the skills learned through this course to not only professional situations, but personal as well.

The Negotiations and Conflict Management course provides thorough conceptual framework to help MPA students structure their negotiation efforts and develop effective overall strategies in negotiating and conflict management. Students will also learn the key skills and practical steps to successful negotiation in real world situations.

The course will examine various types of bargaining strategies including, planning for negotiations, how to handle negotiation breakdowns, communications, power, persuasion, and ethics in negotiations, as well as international dimensions of bargaining. The pedagogical approach will largely be through experiential learning exercises based on weekly readings. Evaluations of student efforts will be based upon self-reflections, self-assessment, and personal portfolio construction, as well as in-class performance in negotiation sessions and debriefing discussions.

The Ethical Management of Organizations course is an introduction to the basic concepts of ethics. Today, professionals in the public sector are constantly challenged to retain leadership integrity while pursuing business goals. This course will provide students with tools that will help them recognize and address these challenging decisions.

The Ethical Management of Organizations course will look at frameworks related to business, the environment, the consumer, and the individual of an organization. Students will practice applying these frameworks to real-world case studies in order to gain a better understanding of the outcomes of moral decision-making.

MPA graduate students will examine effective techniques to develop concrete skills as ethical leaders who are equipped to create innovative strategies and prepared to solve ethical dilemmas presented in organizational culture.