GRA 2427 Building and Leading Effective Teams: Contemporary Issues
GRA 2427 Building and Leading Effective Teams: Contemporary Issues
Organizations increasingly rely on teams to accomplish tasks, and several factors may affect teams’ effectiveness. Yet, organizations’ approach to building and leading effective teams is not always evidence-based nor consistent with contemporary research. It often fails to account for the increased uncertainty and volatility of the environment in which teams operate, as well as for the changing composition and nature of teams (i.e, multicultural and virtual).
This course aims to provide students with up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills to build and lead effective teams. It tackles contemporary issues and discusses contemporary theories and research rather than classical theories and research. This course is based on the pedagigical principles of problem and team based learning approaches. This is central to enable students to experience team processes and learn to apply key theretical concepts to practice. Students will work extensively in teams and participate in several team interventions. The goal is for students to be able to develop team interventions based on contemporary research and methods to promote team effectiveness. They will be asked to solve problems in teams, and critically discuss theories, research, and practical cases in teams. The course structure is aligned with key skills that are necessary for contemporary team leadership.
The candidate
- Has advanced knowledge of contemporary issues associated with team effectiveness.
- Has inisght into central contemporary theories and research associated with team effectiveness.
- Has advanced knowledge concerning team processes underlying team performance and other key team outcomes.
- Has advanced insights into designing team interventions and how these improve team processes and outcomes.
- Has advanced knowledge of evaluating team effectiveness and measurement of team outcomes.
The candidate
- Can develop an effective team intervention in organizational settings based on current research findings and methods
- Can recognize and identify critical factors influencing team effectiveness, and use relevant theories and research to explain team effectiveness in contemporary settings.
- Can critically reflect on and analyze theories and research explaining team effectiveness in contemporary settings.
- Can discuss theories and research about team effectiveness in contemporary settings.
By the end of the course, students should have acquired knowledge and gained experience on how to best build and develop contemporary teams. They should be able to critically reflect on the issues faced by contemporary teams and on the strategies that can help solve these issues.
The course includes central theories and reseach for understanding:
- Team functioning in contemporary settings
- Team development including team interventions in contemporary settings
- Leadership in contemporary teams
- Team composition (i.e., personality, multicultural teams)
- Virtual teams
- Team cognition, communication, and crises
- Team performance, creativity, and related outcomes
The course is structured as a combination of (video) lectures, team exercises and/ or simulations, case studies, and class discussions. Students will be asked to work extensively in teams. The course requires a substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement in the teams throughout the entire semester.
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.
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 specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Disclaimer
Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.
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| Assessments |
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Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Submission PDF Exam/hand-in semester: First Semester Weight: 100 Grouping: Group (3 - 4) Duration: 1 Semester(s) Exam code: GRA 24271 Grading scale: ECTS Resit: Examination when next scheduled course |
| Activity | Duration | Comment |
|---|---|---|
Teaching | 36 Hour(s) | |
Student's own work with learning resources | 124 Hour(s) |
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.
The term paper will consist of critical reflections of the team interventions the teams have participated in throughout the semester, and a thorough presentation and discussion of their own team intervention they developed in their respective teams.