Management

In their second year, all degree students in the Management program complete a nine-month capstone change project. During their change projects, students learn about creating social change by actively engaging with a real-world organization or community. It is a chance for students to put into practice many of the
ideas and concepts studied in their first-year courses
and to explore new understandings about how to be an effective change agent.

Change projects are as diverse as the students themselves. Antioch Center for Creative Change students have completed change projects with many different organizational and community partners and they have worked on many different topics including:

Sifting Through Institutional Layers Brings Perspective and Direction
Robert A. Cantillo worked with the Nitartha Institute, an educational nonprofit dedicated to preserving the study and practice of traditional Tibetan Buddhism, to create a project that would enable a holistic approach to observing, understanding and engaging an organization from both a structural and cultural perspective. While the organization was in the early stages of significant transition, he sifted through institutional layers to discuss challenges and to illuminate collectively on the history and working relationships of the organization.

From Plan to Reality: An Operations Strategy for the Pacific Northwest
Salmon Center
Michael DeBlasi, Deirdre Duffy, Karna Humphrey and Sue Patnude. This multi-disciplinary team joined together with the Pacific Northwest Salmon Center (PNWSC) to design and implement a timeline of activities leading up to the PNWSC opening day. The project included establishing a steering committee for activities, programs, education and research for opening day and beyond. The team utilized strategic planning processes to promote organizational awareness and involved a number of stakeholders. The project connected these issues to the mission of PNWSC and fostered a sustainable organization and its sense of place within the community.

Internalized Oppression: Breaking the Ties That Bind
Evelyn Thomas Allen and the Black Dollar Days Task Force helped build a sustainable support network for African-American-owned businesses in Seattle. This work has created greater economic wealth for the African-American community and helped to remedy the historical effects of racism.

Distance Learning in Southwest Oregon
The University Center in southwest Oregon coordinates distance-learning opportunities provided by local universities and colleges. John Anderson worked with faculty, staff and community leaders to increase community awareness of this organization's programs.

Board and Staff Roles in Nonprofits Under Stress
Richard Beckerman addressed relationships between board and staff in a cultural not-for-profit recovering from a significant financial crisis. He facilitated the reengagement of senior staff with the board and stimulated both improved staff relationships and a shared focus on board support.

Organizing Immigrant Communities
Anteneh Belay worked with the Ethiopian Community Mutual Association (ECMA) to help it organize the Ethiopian community in Seattle. He played a lead role in helping the organization define its identity, improve its communications and strengthen its programs.

Uncovering a Common Story in a University Department
Gail Cheney and a student from the Whole Systems Design program led a collaborative process to create a common story about personal experiences within a university department. The process moved from the individual experiences of faculty, staff and students to the uncovering of a collective story for the entire department.

From Committee to Community
Anne Clamoungou worked with Project Stop Hate, an initiative that teaches elementary school students to recognize and respond effectively to racism. Her work explored the challenges of collaborating effectively, building trust and sharing leadership. She took the initiative from functioning like a committee to one with a deep sense of community.

Organizing Worker Cooperatives
Benjamin Galbraith used in-depth dialogue as a communications strategy to help start a brand new worker-managed and owned cooperative from two local dot-coms.

Training Youth for Peace
Jean Lee and a student from the Whole Systems Design program collaborated to train volunteer middle and high school students in peacemaking. They used a training program adapted from the four phases of the Navajo "blessing way" ceremony that encourages healthy communication and relationship life skills.

Helping Foundations "Walk Their Talk"
Elise Lufkin helped philanthropic foundations to "walk their talk" by identifying the challenges they face in aligning their investment practices with their mission statements. She shared her findings with several foundations and suggested a series of strategies to help overcome the challenges she identified.

Leadership Training: Helping Community Members to Resolve Differences
Rene Neff collaborated with members of the Maxwelton Salmon Adventure on Whidbey Island to create a leadership training seminar. The seminar provided strategies and tools to help local environmentalists and farmers resolve issues related to salmon migration.

Leadership and Organizational Development
By studying Ricardo Semler's Semco Corporation, Donna Nichols explored how leadership styles can affect organizational development. She also looked at the relationships of organizational leadership, democratic decision-making and consensus management.

Virtual Team Technology – A Tool for Transformative Organizational Change?
Globalization is driving economic integration and interdependency among nations, corporations and the nonprofit sector. New virtual team technologies are available to help organizations and teams become more effective, even when they are dispersed around the world. Can these virtual team technologies be used to tackle organizational challenges and facilitate transformational change? In her student project, Susan Sena looked at this question in detail.

Learning Teams: Can They Influence Change at a Community College?
Robert Sullivan formed a learning team at the South Seattle Community College. He explored how the learning team could address recurring problems at the College using systemic thinking and how it could contribute to organizational learning and change.

Leading Virtual Teams in Volunteer Organizations
Andrew Wong evaluated the operations of the Metropolitan Church's volunteer virtual tech team. Wong then led an initiative that revitalized it. The revitalization initiative relied on team-building strategies, motivational tools and enhanced collaboration.