Learning

Communicating Well at Work (MGMT 39000)

Elective Course | 1 Credit Hour
Open to Undergraduate Students

Level Up Your Communication and Leadership Skills

Strong communication is the cornerstone of professional success. MGMT 39000: Communicating Well at Work helps you build the confidence and skills to communicate effectively in any workplace setting — from team meetings to executive presentations.

Through real-world case studies, hands-on exercises, and interactive discussions, you’ll learn how to craft persuasive messages, manage difficult conversations, and adapt your communication style to any audience.

What You’ll Learn

• Develop clear, concise, and persuasive workplace communication.
• Master strategies for handling challenging conversations and delivering constructive feedback.
• Enhance your professional presence in meetings, presentations, and virtual environments.
• Apply active listening and emotional intelligence to strengthen workplace relationships.
• Learn to navigate influence and tailor your message for colleagues, teams, and leaders.
• Cultivate a growth mindset that supports ongoing personal and professional development.

The Science of Working Well

Elective Course | 3 Credit Hours
Open to Undergraduate Students

Learn How to Thrive at Work — and in Life

Each year, millions of employees across the globe grapple with their well-being at work and home, leading to a critical question: What does it truly mean to “work well”? From burnout and physical exhaustion to a lack of motivation, meaning, and social connection, many factors influence how employees thrive both professionally and personally.

As part of the new Center for Working Well, this course helps you understand how to work well yourself—and how to help others do the same as leaders and coworkers. You’ll explore how individual, relational, organizational, and community factors shape our ability to work well. Together, we’ll identify solutions to common workplace well-being challenges using scientific evidence and hands-on learning experiences.

Through real-world assignments and discussions, you’ll gain experience addressing well-being challenges at work, developing strategies for improvement, and discovering your own path to working well.

Learning Objectives

• Identify key definitions and theories of well-being at work and at home.
• Distinguish antecedents of well-being stemming from individual, relational, organizational, and community-level factors.
• Analyze data to identify “intervention points” that improve support and programs for employee well-being.
• Plan habits and routines that promote personal well-being at work and at home.

The Well-Being–Performance Paradox

Elective Course | 2 Credit Hours
Open to Upper-level Undergraduate Students and All Graduate Students

Professionals today face a defining challenge: how to support employee well-being while still delivering strong organizational performance. The Well-Being–Performance Paradox equips students to understand, navigate, and resolve this tension using rigorous research and applied insight.

Rather than treating well-being and performance as a tradeoff, this course examines how they interact—sometimes reinforcing one another, sometimes colliding. Drawing on evidence from organizational behavior, human resource management, psychology, and emerging research on artificial intelligence (AI), students learn how work design, leadership, and systems shape both outcomes over time. Throughout the course, students apply research to real organizational challenges through cases, applied assignments, and a final project focused on designing sustainable, human-centered HR solutions.

What You’ll Learn

• Understand and explain the well-being–performance paradox and its implications for HR practice.
• Critically evaluate research on burnout, recovery, engagement, and performance.
• Analyze HR practices—such as job design, rewards, flexibility, and talent systems—through a paradox lens.
• Assess how AI influences employee well-being and performance, including ethical risks and design choices.
• Diagnose organizational tradeoffs and tensions using real-world cases.
• Design evidence-based HR policies that support both people and performance.
• Communicate a compelling business case for sustainable, human-centered HR practices.
• Reflect on your role as an HR professional and develop strategies for maintaining personal well-being while driving organizational change.

Motivation and Well-Being

Ph.D. Seminar | 3 Credit Hours
Open to Ph.D. Students Only

On a day-to-day basis, employees are faced with a variety of decisions pertaining to how they self-regulate their behavior and maintain (or, ideally, build) their well-being at work. In this Ph.D. seminar, students will identify the ways in which organizations can facilitate both motivational and well-being processes to promote a healthier, more productive workforce. Throughout the course readings, students will be able to gain an understanding of various forms of employee motivation and various conceptualizations of employee well-being, in addition to gaining knowledge pertaining to what factors facilitate and/or hinder employee well-being on a day-to-day basis. Beyond these theoretical insights, students will also have the opportunity to develop a thorough understanding of unique methodological approaches to pursue these areas of research (e.g., experience sampling, physiological assessments, continuous ratings assessments).

Strategic Business Writing

OBHR 33500

Strategic Business Writing prepares Daniels School of Business undergraduate students to become effective, strategic writers in professional settings. Students learn to be people-first communicators by applying the Roberson People-First Communication skills: Audience Analysis, Emotional Intelligence, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Building Connection and Trust, and Communication Ethics. The course emphasizes selecting and applying appropriate writing strategies for different audiences, purposes, and business situations. Students also learn to use AI tools ethically and effectively while recognizing their limitations. Through extensive writing practice, feedback, and revision, students develop proficiency across a range of professional business writing formats.

Communication and Presence in the Workplace

OBHR 59000

Communication and Presence in the Workplace is designed to help students develop the communication skills required to lead effectively in a modern, technology-driven workplace. Students will learn how to speak and write with clarity, confidence, and presence using the Roberson People-First Communication Framework to build trust, connection, and credibility across audiences. Through hands-on practice with presentations, leadership messaging, and refection on readings students will refine their executive presence, extemporaneous speaking, and persuasive influence. Students will also learn to use AI and other emerging technologies strategically to brainstorm, organize, revise, and elevate communication while maintaining authenticity and integrity.