The Professional Clinical Doctorate: Teleology
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The Clinical Specialty in Teleology ~
Greek teleios, teleos, perfect, complete (from telos, end, result).

Various definitions: The study of design or purpose in natural phenomena. The use of ultimate purpose or design as a means of explaining phenomena. Belief in or the perception of purposeful development toward an end, as in nature or history. The study of evidences of design in nature; a doctrine (as in vitalism) that ends are immanent in nature; a doctrine explaining phenomena by final causes. The fact or character attributed to nature or natural processes of being directed toward an end or shaped by a purpose. The use of design or purpose as an explanation of natural phenomena.

Program Content: This course of study is expected to take five (5) years, but could be done in less time with due diligence.  Students will learn to facilitate the organization in identifying its purpose of existence, how to "own it," and how to harness the energy necessary to achieve that goal.  Students will learn how to stretch an organization to its peak performance, overcoming the biased interests of different departments and individuals. Other objectives include: learning how to aim for goals that involve risk-taking, how to overcome fear of failure, and how the organization can extend itself. A student learns how to facilitate strategic planning in the organization which capitalizes on core competencies and protects core weaknesses. This objective involves multi-functional and multidisciplinary areas such as Marketing, Production, Finance and Human Resources. Finally, students learn how to lead an organization in designing systems for itself  that will reinforce desired behavior whether that system and behavior are financial or non-financial in nature.

 Specific learning outcomes include students learning:

A. How to conduct organization therapy sessions that bring people to agreement on the organization's own value-added competitive advantage and to develop a clear, concise statement of the mission of the organization, identifying their own common, shared sense of vision and mission.
B. How to structure an organization in light of its mission, functions and required individual responsibilities, which clarify accountability to function.
C. To get an entire team to participate in order to make cost centers perform like profit centers, negotiate transfer pricing between units, and to get business behavior and efficiency even from not-for profit-units of the organization.
D. To conduct Strategic Planning sessions in light of the previously determined structure, mission and information base, developing strategic long range plans and systems for increasing product lines, market share, profitability, and human resources.
E. The skills to develop a reward system including economic, non-pecuniary, task, potency and mission rewards, and to jointly develop incentive systems that reflect cooperation, team achievement, and that motivate people.
F.   Students apply these in specific experiential situations and refine experiential competence and skills.

The clinical specialty in Teleology includes the following three content areas

 Academic: The online courses are described here. Eight courses are required for students entering the program with a Bachelors Degree; 3 courses are required for those who are qualified for advanced standing. All online courses are managed in conjunction with the Adizes Graduate School academic online degree programs - the Masters and the Ph.D. All information regarding the academic online courses applies as well.

 The following prerequisite courses (not available at AGS) are required and must appear on your transcripts or you may submit a written petition for a waiver of these prerequisite courses (required with the application documents) based on demonstrable professional experience, or take these courses anytime prior to Adizes Phase training: 

Marketing Theory
Introduction to Operations Research
Strategic Planning
Business Finance Theory
Business Policy
Human Resource Management

Clinical: Phase I - III of the Adizes methodology, including on-site classes, online lab work with supervision, and internships in a client environment

The Doctoral Project: The final project is a case study of facilitation with one client using all the phases of the area of study in which the student has specialized OR the documentation of innovations in the field of organizational transformation INCLUDING a case study indicating their success.

  ADMISSIONS -APPLICATION - DISTANCE LEARNING- LIBRARY - CONTACT AGS - MANUALS

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