Leading Teams

Course Description

This course is about how teams develop, the roles of team members, team dynamics, conflict management, and how to create, lead/manage and assess an effective team. Students participate in team experiences in order to apply the theory, skills, and concepts taught in the classroom. In addition, when teams are virtual, meaning not co-located, there are different dynamics that come into play for leading teams, often making it more difficult. Adding to the range of dynamics for team leadership of all types of teams is the fact that today many teams will be also multi-cultural. Leading and managing these types of teams will also be covered in detail.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
– Describe and demonstrate an understanding of the various roles for team members and leaders /managers;
– Understand and demonstrate knowledge of what criteria are most important when building effective teams and leading them;
– Understand and demonstrate knowledge of the key role that effective teams play in the organizations of today and the importance of leading and managing these teams;
– Describe and demonstrate an understanding of the basics of team roles, team dynamics, and team decision-making in order to function constructively in team settings;
– Demonstrate an ability to evaluate the effectiveness of a team;
– Understand and demonstrate an ability to explain how high-performing teams develop and how leaders/managers influence that development; – Demonstrate an ability and understanding of how to recognize negative behaviors and roles of a team, and offer solutions to remedy them;
– Understand the importance of teamwork and utilizing the skills of building effective teams in various situations;
– Demonstrate an understanding and ability to implement strong team communication skills in leading others and how to use those skills to influence others;
– Understand and use leadership theory to take actions that improve the effectiveness of a team and implement these skills in real world situations; – Demonstrate an understanding of the benefits and difficulties inherent in leading and managing virtual teams and cross-cultural teams.