Online Master
of Science in Organizational Leadership

Elevate your leadership potential with Abilene Christian University’s online Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. This innovative program is designed to help you harness the power of collaboration, motivate your workforce and foster an environment where individuals feel valued and empowered. By viewing leadership as a catalyst for change and the foundation for organizational growth, this degree equips you with the skills to inspire transformation, embrace innovation and achieve lasting results.

Whether you’re an executive, director, administrator or team leader, this fully online program provides the tools you need to navigate complex organizational dynamics, improve communication and conflict resolution, and create a cohesive, thriving workplace. With faith as a guiding principle, you’ll discover how to lead with purpose and impact lives at every level of your organization.

Elevate your leadership potential with Abilene Christian University’s online Master of Science in Organizational Leadership. This innovative program is designed to help you harness the power of collaboration, motivate your workforce and foster an environment where individuals feel valued and empowered. By viewing leadership as a catalyst for change and the foundation for organizational growth, this degree equips you with the skills to inspire transformation, embrace innovation and achieve lasting results.

Whether you’re an executive, director, administrator or team leader, this fully online program provides the tools you need to navigate complex organizational dynamics, improve communication and conflict resolution, and create a cohesive, thriving workplace. With faith as a guiding principle, you’ll discover how to lead with purpose and impact lives at every level of your organization.

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Compassionately Drive Results

Energize and grow your organization in the present’s demanding, rapidly evolving economy. As you explore behavior science-rooted theories, our vibrant, virtual Christ-centered community shepherds your journey forward.

Locked-In Tuition

Introducing
Locked-In Tuition.

Our Locked-In Tuition program guarantees you’ll pay the same price for your entire graduate degree.

FREE Course for New Students

Enroll today and receive a FREE course! Simply complete your first three courses successfully, and you will get your fourth course for FREE. That’s a savings of $1,950! New students who begin classes in our Summer 1 session beginning May 6, 2025, will be automatically enrolled. Scholarship eligibility is session-specific. Please contact an ACU Online admissions advisor at 855-219-7300 for full award rules and disclaimers.

About the Program

Young businesswoman standing in the corridor, Master of Science in Organizational Leadership

By incorporating courses and professors from the fields of communication, conflict resolution, and psychology, ACU’s online Master of Science in Organizational Leadership program offers a focused yet flexible plan of study for achieving results through leadership in a variety of settings, including public and private organizations. Along with expanding your knowledge of human resources, finance, supply chain management, and information technology applications, you’ll also learn to integrate your faith, both internally and externally, to lead, administer, and manage organizational change.

Program Structure

All the Details on Your Degree

The Master of Science in Organizational Leadership at ACU Online provides a comprehensive education for those seeking to lead with purpose and make a difference within their organizations. You’ll learn to assess organizational health, develop strategies for resolving conflict and implement innovative solutions to drive efficiency and growth.

Required Hours

36 hours
24 months
Cost: $650/Hour with $200 resource fee per term

Example Coursework

Self-Assessment in Leadership
Leadership Foundations & Theory
Training & Development
Change Management

Upcoming Start Dates

May 6, 2025
July 1, 2025

COMMON JOB TITLES

Chief Operations Officer
Training and Development Manager
Organizational Development Consultant
Small Business Owner
Non-profit organization professionals
Government administrators

Curriculum

The online Master’s in Organizational Leadership involves 36 credit hours divided among courses in communications (12 credit hours), management science (six credit hours), and conflict management (18 credit hours).

Instructors emphasize real-world applications of psychology-based theories, and concepts are introduced through recent research and established management methods. You’ll advance your leadership perspective through courses covering:

  • change-driven strategies and the concept of the learning organization;
  • intercultural competence to effectively lead and connect with a diverse, often global workforce;
  • developing and evaluating human resources training programs;
  • the role of human resources management;
  • the characteristics of a functional organization, including motivation, culture, ethics, and decision-making;
  • managing and understanding interpersonal conflicts in relation to communication, emotions, and identity;
  • key negotiation techniques, including essential skills, identifying biases, and managing conflicting parties; and
  • conflict resolution concepts, tools, and applications, including communication and sociopolitical theories, workplace issues, and ethics.

Meet the Program Director

Dr. Kipi Fleming, Master of Science in Organizational Leadership

Dr. Fleming received her B.S.Ed in elementary education with an emphasis in reading from Abilene Christian University in 1985. Before the birth of her children, she taught first grade and later substituted in the public schools in Texas and Oklahoma at all levels. Dr. Fleming received her MACRR from ACU in 2010 and went on to complete her doctorate in conflict analysis and resolution from Nova Southeastern University in 2015 where her research concentrated on the biblical interpretation of marital submission and how it affects the Christian marriage relationship.

Dr. Fleming joined the faculty at the Duncum Center in the summer of 2015 as an adjunct professor and was named the conflict management program director at ACU Dallas in July of 2016. Her research interests include family conflict, gender and conflict, conflict in schools, leadership and conflict, church conflict, and conflict in American history. Dr. Fleming is a mediator for the Lubbock County Office of Dispute Resolution where she works primarily with families in divorce mediations.

Spotlight

Deandra Porter, Master of Science in Organizational Development

Student Spotlight: Deandra Porter

Meet Deandra Porter, a recent graduate of ACU Online’s Master of Science in Organizational Development program. She’s using her graduate degree to make life better for the constituents in Senator Charles Schwertner’s district.

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The Difference Between Transactional and Transformational Leadership

Transactional and transformational practices lie at separate ends of the leadership spectrum, but both are applicable to today’s business environment. Read on to learn the differences between these styles and how they are practiced in the workplace.

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Fleming

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Kipi Fleming

From a young age we’re taught to do what we can to get along with others. The difficulty is: many of us don’t know what that realistically looks like once conflict arises. Program Director Dr. Kipi Fleming has found a passion in providing students with the tools and resources needed to interact with others productively.

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5 Key Skills Future Leaders Need

In today’s evolving work environment, aspiring leaders need to develop a variety of skills to grant them a competitive edge. Here are 5 key skills that all future leaders need to be successful.

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internship

Introducing the Fast Lane option for ACU’s online Master of Science in Organizational Leadership (MSOL)! This option allows students with high academic standing to take two courses per session, reducing the typical 24-month degree timeline to just 12 months. With Fast Lane, you can complete your degree sooner and achieve your career goals faster than ever. Fast Lane starts are only available for Spring 1, Summer 1 and Fall 1.

Master of Science in Organizational Leadership

Determined leaders are never satisfied. Instead, you strive to improve to inspire others, nurture your organization’s potential, and look toward the future. ACU’s online Master’s in Organizational Leadership gives you an edge in these areas. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts nine-percent growth for management professionals between 2020 and 2030, this program broadens your knowledge base to help you tackle new challenges and better guide your workforce. 

Considering these objectives, this program provides a skills boost for:

  • corporate executives;
  • nonprofit directors;
  • department heads;
  • general managers;
  • training development managers;
  • human resources professionals; and
  • administrative professionals in government, healthcare, and more fields.
This is where we make it happen

To be considered for admission, all students must:

  • Complete the online program application accompanied by a non-refundable processing fee.
  • Submit official transcripts showing earned bachelor’s from a regionally accredited college or university or the equivalent.
  • A cumulative undergraduate GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale
  • A two-page, typed purpose statement describing the applicant’s career goals, professional interests and reasons for wanting to enter the program.
  • Submit a current resume
  • Upon request, a personal or telephone interview with the program advisor or other departmental faculty or staff

In addition, to be admitted to the Fast Lane MSOL program, students must:

  • Have a minimum 3.25 undergraduate or graduate GPA for admission.
  • Fast Lane applicant’s purpose statement must provide details showing that they have the necessary support (family, work, etc.) to show that the student will have 30+ hours per week to dedicate to school work.
  • Recommendations may be requested by the Program Director for Fast-Lane admits.
SACSCOC Stamp Color

Abilene Christian University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Ga. 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of ACU.

 

Abilene Christian University enjoys a strong national reputation as one of the leading private Christian universities in the west and southwest, indicated by various ratings (such as U.S. News and World Report and other reports).


Outcomes

Small businesses to nonprofits to multinational corporations now contend with an increasingly globalized, technology-driven marketplace. This environment requires a new kind of leader — an adaptable communicator, negotiator, and motivator who’s multiculturally competent and ready to forge meaningful connections. These relationships — among teams and departments across an organization — propel success and form its cultural backbone. 

With these factors in mind, the online master’s degree in Organizational Leadership presents a widely applicable plan of study that helps you lead with intelligence. To help your team or organization thrive from top to bottom, you’ll:

  • learn to develop, implement, and maintain productive organizational systems and structures;
  • acquire a detailed, more nuanced understanding of human resources, information technology, production, finance, and supply chain management functions;
  • approach management from an ethical perspective that places employees first;
  • begin to understand leadership on a global level and its effects on efficiency, productivity, and profits;
  • become familiar with human behavior within complex organizational structures;
  • explore the role of customer service within organizational structures; 
  • uncover a more customized approach to leadership, with focus given to group and team needs; and
  • have the option to earn a Conflict Resolution certificate to support and attest to your negotiation and communication skills.