GRA 2427 Groups and Teams: Dynamics and Effectiveness
GRA 2427 Groups and Teams: Dynamics and Effectiveness
Organizations frequently use groups and teams to accomplish tasks, and several psychological processes may affect groups performance. This course will provide an overview of some of the major theories and studies that may help understand psychological processes in groups and teams. The theories are related to issues such as group composition, group development, group dynamics, and group effectiveness. The theories and the scientific evidence will be examined and discussed. Students will work in groups during the course, presenting and discussing literature, and participate in various exercises related to groups and team processes described in the literature.
The course will provide an overview of major theories and studies related to psychological processes in and between groups, affecting their performance. Some of these processes will be demonstrated by group exercises. The course will provide students with knowledge of major theories related to group processes and group effectiveness, and enhance their ability to critically assess the empirical evidence for such theories. The course will also provide the opportunity to learn about group and team dynamics through practical exercises.
The students will be better able to recognize and identify processes in groups, and use psychological theories to understand such processes. Students should also be able to critically examine theories explaining why some groups are more effective than others. They will get experience with working in groups, and present and discuss theories and studies about group processes and group effectiveness.
Students will learn how to reflect on issues related to group processes and studies explaining psychological processes in groups. They should be able to be critical toward theories of group performance, and use this knowledge to guide their approach when working with groups. Participants will also be provided an opportunity to reflect upon their own behaviour in groups.
- Important factors that influence effectiveness in groups
- Group effectiveness, group composition, and group processes
- Creativity in groups
- Conflict and groups
- Leadership in groups
- Assessment of groups and teams
- Team interventions
The course is structured as a combination of lectures, group exercises, group presentations and group discussions. Students will work in groups most of the time. The course requires a substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement in the groups.
Students are required to attend the first day of class, or inform the instructor in advance about their absence.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on itslearning or text book.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course start.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have spesific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
GRA 2205 Organisational Behaviour or equivalent
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Class participation Weight: 30 Grouping: Group (2 - 3) Exam code: GRA24271 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 70 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Exam code: GRA24271 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.