CAS Culture Change (ZHdK/ZHAW)

Short description

Mindset for new working worlds – organizational culture as a factor of success

The culture of an organization is crucial to its success. However, cultural change must be initiated and shaped. This CAS consists of a unique combination of design-, social- and management-oriented approaches and thus serves as a multidisciplinary source of inspiration, a collaborative setting, and a reflective space in which to experiment with your own culture change project.

The CAS Culture Change programme is completed over a period of nine months. The components of the three modules overlap, so that participants’ culture change initiatives and projects can be driven forward and regularly reflected upon in learning loops. Course assessment for the three modules also entails documenting and critically reviewing your own project in a compact conceptual work, which is then presented in an elevator pitch.

Cooperation

The CAS Culture Change is a collaboration between the Institute of Management and Social Policy at the School of Social Work at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) and the Institute for Organizational Viability at the School of Management and Law at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) together with the Strategic Design continuing education portfolio of the Department of Design and the Center for Continuing Education at the ZHdK. Upon agreement, the CAS Culture Change can be credited as an elective module to the MAS degree programs of all cooperation partners.

Target audience

The CAS Culture Change programme is intended for people in any role or sector who specifically want to extend their repertoire of skills with a unique combination of design, social and management-based approaches and methods and take a holistic approach to driving forward organizational culture change.

In particular, the programme is aimed at

  • senior managers and project leaders who want to change and develop the culture of their team, their department or their organization
  • the self-employed, company founders and agency employees
  • digital and innovation officers, strategy and enterprise developers and HR specialists
  • consultants, supervisors and cultural coaches

Positioning

In the context of the MAS Strategic Design, the CAS Culture Change focuses on teaching effective tools in order to enable the designing of organizational culture. The programme is particularly suitable for people who want to (co-)design cultural change in the field of tension between new working environments, digital transformation and social change.

The «spider model» shows the dimensions of curriculum in strategic design.

Know Yourself – Develop an awareness of yourself and your own value system, and an understanding of how these influence your own positioning and strategic behaviour.

Master Tools – Gain a broad knowledge of the concepts, methods and other instruments which help with strategic decision-making and support the required processes.

Shape Experiences – Build up expertise in aesthetic and experience-based elements and their influence on, and interaction in, the implementation of strategic decisions.

Enable People – Empower third parties by the clever application of collaborative and communication skills.

Navigate Complexity – Learn how to handle complex systems and about contextual relationships and how these can be influenced by interventions.

Transform Organizations – Learn about the idiosyncrasies of organizations and other communities.

Understand technology – Raise awareness of the potential of technological developments and their direct interaction with cultural aspects of everyday life.

Dates

The CAS Culture Change programme usually starts anually in October and is completed over a period of nine months. The languages of instruction is German with some content taught in English.

Next editions
Programme year 2025/26: start on 18 October 2025

Cost

CHF 8800.–

How to apply

Further information: CAS Culture Change