Adjunct Instructor - Strategic Management (Online)

The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) is seeking a part-time instructor for its Spring 2025 course, PIA 2185 - Strategic Management (Online). This is a full-semester, 3-credit, online graduate course. The Spring 2025 term runs from Wednesday, January 8, 2025, through Wednesday, April 30, 2025. The course is scheduled to meet asynchronously online.

Instructor's duties include preparing a syllabus, leading class sessions, grading and commenting on students' work, providing timely and frequent feedback on student assignments, utilizing Canvas, and being available to meet with students. Instructor is expected to be responsive to all student inquiries. Enrollment will be approximately 30 students.

Successful applicants will have at least a Master's degree in a relevant field (public administration, management). Prior experience managing nonprofit organizations is required. Preference will be given to candidates with previous online teaching experience at the Master's level.

Course Description - PIA 2185 Strategic Management (Online)

This course deals primarily with the concept of organizational strategy, how organizations position themselves to succeed in an ever changing environment. Secondarily, it deals with managerial strategy how leaders and managers in organizations make important decisions under conditions of uncertainty. Strategic management consists of a set of tools to help organizations thrive in dynamic and (sometimes) competitive environments. The essence of strategic management is the ability to leverage the organization's strengths and ‘comparative advantages' to respond to emerging opportunities and challenges in its external environment. In government and nonprofit organizations, the practice of strategic management is complicated by the need to work effectively within the political system and to collaborate with other agencies for the delivery of goods and services. Purely competitive strategies must be tempered by a broader view of what is in the best interests of society-at-large, not just the organization's self-interests. This course will help you to understand and apply the concepts and methods of strategic management in public and nonprofit organizations. Strategic planning is one of the many tools of strategic management. Strategic planning is a step-by-step process, usually undertaken every 3-5 years, to help an organization develop its strategy for the future. The strategic plan might, for example, highlight opportunities for the organization to grow by offering its services in new locations, adding new services to its portfolio, altering its mission statement, or even merging with another organization. Alternatively, a strategic plan might identify ways for the organization to reduce its size, cut programs and staff, or even go out of business in an orderly way.