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Welcome and Overview

Welcome to the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences (PCHCS) Leadership and Management Academy at Nova Southeastern University. The Academy is designed to foster leadership development and managerial skills among the PCHCS's departmental administrators and faculty. In addition, the Academy will support preceptors, clinical educators and non-NSU faculty who also seek to advance their professional development in these areas. Through innovative online teaching and learning processes, as well as workshops and web-based resources, the Leadership and Management Academy will offer several different tools to enhance skills related to managing a variety of academic aspects.

The Academy focuses on both leadership and management skill development, since these two aspects are often interrelated, although distinct. For example, managers focus on the day to day operations of a department or organization, but leaders create the opportunities for innovative thinking and doing, through creative processes and visioning within the organization. It's feasible to understand that managers need leadership skills and leaders often need managerial knowledge, in order to be successful at attaining the goals of any organization. Within an academic setting, there are many instances when both skill sets are needed to provide an optimal environment for academic role success. Faculty members are often given the responsibility of leadership for committee work, motivating a group of students, developing innovative teaching/learning strategies and creating service learning opportunities, to name a few. They are also responsible for managing various projects and may benefit from increased knowledge in this area for best results. The Academy seeks to support managers, directors, chairs and faculty members, in the pursuit of optimal leadership and management skills in health care education.

In the past, organizational leaders and managers were often considered dominant and authoritarian, with minimal consideration of employees' feelings. Contemporary literature includes a different vision of leadership that supports attainment of team members' professional goals through positive strategies that motivate. This is done through what Kouzes and Posner (2007) term "The Five Practices of Leadership". They include model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, encouraging the heart and enable others to act. Other authors support various aspects of these practices with different descriptions and definitions, but Kouzes and Posner provide a concise summary of effective leadership principles. These principles will be taught, among other theoretical perspectives, through interactive teaching/learning processes embedded in the Leadership and Management Advancement course that the Academy will sponsor. Case examples, interactive discussions, and readings will support participants in gaining further knowledge about effective leadership practices.

Management of the various departments with the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences requires a breadth of knowledge in regards to management systems. Nova Southeastern University has created an umbrella of online networks that require knowledge and skill to navigate well. These are not unlike other university setting challenges where faculty and managers must learn key elements to successfully organize student information, report on program outcomes, manage diploma activity or budgets. These managerial aspects of successfully organizing a department or academic aspect, require training and support. The Leadership and Management Advancement course includes training for these more complex system aspects, in order to provide managers with information beyond their initial orientation. In addition, updates to systems will be included as they become available. This aspect of the course will be done during a one-day on-campus session, where system managers and resources will be accessible to the participants.

The leadership vision of the Dr. Pallavi Patel College of Health Care Sciences is to provide an avenue for optimal leadership and management development among department administrators and faculty within the College, as well as within the community. Leaders are developed through organized efforts, self-reflective practices, application of evidence-based literature, and practice in real-life situations. Nova Southeastern University promotes innovative education for leadership development to further support academic excellence.

Kouzes, J.M. & Posner, B.Z. (2007). The leadership challenge (4th ed.) San Francisco, CA:
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Conflict Prevention and Management Course

The field of health care is complex, multifaceted, and competitive; elements from which differences emerge, grow into problems, and escalate into conflict.The Conflict Prevention and Management course provides health care professionals and staff with the skills to recognize, prevent, and address conflict constructively and to problem-solve collaboratively.The course offers communication, conflict analysis and conflict resolution skills in a practice based approach for administrators, faculty, and staff.

The course is offered in two separate parts. Part 1 is for administrators, faculty and staff who desire to learn the basics of conflict prevention and management. The content of part 1 will include understanding and recognizing conflict styles, applying effective communication skills, and analyzing the appropriate dispute resolution approach for specific conflict situations.

Part 2 is for administrators, faculty, and staff who already have a basic knowledge of conflict prevention and management and seek to gain practice in the conflict resolution methods of negotiation, coaching, mediation, and arbitration.

Conflict Prevention and Management Members